By Giannira Giunti
This year, members of our Ascend Studio traveled to El Salvador to take part in the Acton Summit 2026, a gathering of learners and guides from different parts of the world. It was a living exchange of culture, ideas, challenges, and human connection.
What happens when young people step outside their familiar environment and into a broader community? What shifts when they hear different accents, encounter new traditions, and engage with peers of different ages? The Summit invited our Pumas to do exactly that. We camped under open skies. We shared meals and stories. Learners challenged themselves to make new friends, to learn something meaningful about the host country, to speak up in a group, to ask curious questions in front of strangers, or to lead an idea.
As guides, we experienced the Summit as a powerful space for reflection and exchange. We shared practices, questioned assumptions, and observed how our learners navigated unfamiliar territory. What strengths emerge? What insecurities surface? What surprises us? And then, there was the volcano.
We began the climb at 2:30 in the morning. Total darkness. Headlamps lighting only a few steps ahead. The path was rocky, slippery and steep. We could only see the next small stretch of ground illuminated in front of us. I questioned myself, Is that not what growth often feels like?
Climbing a volcano required us to trust the process without seeing the full picture. It was taking one step at a time when the road felt uphill and uncertain. It is wondering in the silence, Can I do this? And choosing to continue. Our Pumas climb their own mountains every day. Speaking in a language other than their own. Leading a discussion. Navigating friendships. Attempting something that once felt out of reach. Interacting with people older and younger than themselves. Stepping beyond comfort.
When we reached the top, the sunrise slowly revealed the landscape that darkness had concealed. At that moment, each step made sense. The reward was not only the view. It was the realization: I was capable, I made it.
It made me think, What changes in a young person when they accomplish something they once doubted? How does that memory shape the next challenge?
What quiet confidence is built through effort?
Then came the descent. Lighter. More talkative. Carried by a subtle but powerful sense of accomplishment. Perhaps that, too, is part of the journey. We reach the top, we celebrate it, and then we walk back down ready for the next climb.
The Acton Summit 2026 was not only about cultural exchange or collaboration among guides. It was about witnessing growth in motion. It was about watching our Pumas move through uncertainty, take brave steps, and arrive at their own sunrise.
What if transformation begins simply by daring to take the first step in the dark?
