SHARING HIS SNAPSHOTS — Jefferson Ford of Butler is pictured in front a Lenin statue in the Bishkek, the capital city of the Kyrgyz Republic. At left is Ala-Too Square in Bishkek's Panfilov Park.

Jefferson Ford traveled across 12 time zones this summer.

“It sounds cliche, but you can learn something from anyone as long as you are willing to listen,” said Ford of Butler.

The Georgetown University junior and Butler High School 2017 graduate who studies global business and Chinese language traveled to Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, and also known as Kirghizia, a country in Central Asia, in May with the university on its third annual trip to the country.

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east.

Although the trip was not his first time abroad, it was Ford’s first time in Asia.

While there, he traveled to different towns and taught English, public speaking and debate and hosted a Model United Nations conference in the capital city Bishkek for the students at the private school and across the country.

The travel did not end in Kyrgyzstan. For the month of June, Ford traveled to Hong Kong through the university’s business school for his marketing and intercommunications class.

While in Hong Kong, Ford was able to explore.

He also spent a week in Thailand and took classes and studied business at the Special Administrative Regions of China.

This is a preview of an article that appears in Sunday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article and learn more about Ford’s trip.