Project in Africa Solidifies Junior’s Idea of Course of Study

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – After spending a month in Africa this past summer and adjusting to a new coaching staff in her junior year, Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball player Tori Baggio understands new environments.

The women are led this season by Jacquie Hullah, who is in her first year as the head coach of the Tartans. While Baggio had a positive experience during her first two years with the program, she has enjoyed every moment of her junior season.

"Our team's tone is so much more focused," Baggio said. "The juniors and seniors work together and address different parts of the leadership roles. I lead by example. I'm an upbeat and goofy person. I try to pick everyone up on days when they don't want to lift or practice."

Baggio, a member of Carnegie Mellon's ELumanate project, spent parts of July and August in Sierra Leone refurbishing a hydroelectric power plant to bring power to the small community. Her team also worked and continues to work on helping members of the community benefit from the electricity.

"We are helping them create a business center," Baggio said. "Then they can use electricity to increase their income. Electricity actually gets sold through the day, unlike before when it was just used at night for lighting and television. This increases their stability."

With only one of the team members having already traveled to Africa, Baggio and her counterparts had no idea what to expect when they got to Sierra Leone.

"We needed to go there," Baggio said. "All of us were making assumptions about what it would be like. Only one of us had been there. I was in awe for most of the time."

Baggio struggles to find the word to describe her first trip to Africa and best defines it as "unreal."

Her favorite day in the foreign nation was when her team finally secured the land from the paramount chief to begin constructing the business center.

"We had a lot of contact with the paramount chief," Baggio said. "He's United States educated, and he likes to connect with the students. He was a huge help for us in securing the land."

Despite their help from their new friend, the group had a long day to finally obtain the land.

"The land negotiations were the most exciting day there. It was a huge feat for us but a very long process," Baggio said. "It was supposed to be just three elders at the meeting. Before we knew it, 45 people were there. We would set the sticks to mark out the land that we wanted, and then the elders would move them. This went on and on until we finally settled."

After choosing the land, the entire town had to hear the meeting to finalize the deal.

"The entire village had to hear this meeting, so they all gathered together," Baggio said. "They came with so many questions. Why do you want the land? What are you going to do? How will you compensate us? After seven hours, we found out the land had been granted to us. It was so gratifying."

Another rewarding experience for the Carnegie Mellon junior was returning home to the United States. The trip proved to her that she truly enjoys what she is studying. Baggio majors in economics and international relations.

"It helped me to realize what I'm studying and how to pursue my last semesters," Baggio said. "I haven't even completed college yet and in Africa, they consider me an expert because I may have taken an engineering class for my free class."

Her humanitarian efforts didn't end when she returned to the United States.

"I'm the financial manager for the team," Baggio said. "Earlier in the semester I found out a team member was going back to Africa and I needed to find the budget to send him there."

Baggio plans to return to Africa this summer, possibly for the entire summer this time, to further her work in the rural village of Yele.

View a photo gallery of Tori's time in Africa