RBC Scholars continued to give back through pandemic

“Just seeing how different, life is in one of those countries and even just like the culture and the way that people interact,” Kupec says. “The communities are so close and everyone is just so like appreciative of everything. Especially when we worked with the children, just seeing how even despite like the language barriers and everything, we were just able to like form these close relationships with them. It was very heartwarming.”

Hughson, who will swim for the University of Chicago next year, is president of the Model United Nations and French National Honor Society at Hilton Head Island High. If not for COVID-19, Hughson would be preparing to travel to a conference where students like him roleplay as delegates to the UN. This year it’s on-line.

“You pretend to be a country or a representative from that country and you debate and argue and try to solve world issues such as maybe a hunger crisis in a country or a conflict over in another region,” Hughson explains. “So, you have to do it through diplomacy, and you have to make decisions and write the laws and bills. It’s really interesting.”

Small wonder, then, that Hughson hopes to work in the State Department. As much as he’s interested in current events, though, the Seahawk swim team captain also loves looking into the past.

Hughson has been interested in archeology since he was in preschool – “I’ve always liked old ruins, digging in the dirt and finding old stuff,” he says. His interest is so keen that the local archeological society has given him the opportunity to work on a native American shell ring that turned out to be 3,500 years old.

Hughson started small, moving dirt, then screening through it to find artifacts. As he gained experience, he was able to operate some of the machinery like the magnetometer and spectrometer. He calls the opportunity “pretty cool.”

“Growing up with the island, you only really know about the beaches and the tourists and all the big hotels,” Hughson says. “So, I didn’t really know we had such a rich history.”