Holy Innocents' junior summits Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro | People

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. -- Holly Shaw, a rising junior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, went on a three-week, Rustic Pathways service trip to Tanzania earlier this summer, a trip that culminated with a hike to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.         

Holly and others on the trip performed community service work with children on the edge of the immense Ngorongoro Crater, within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The 17-year-old climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro with eight others in her group during the pre-dawn hours on July 2.

“It takes five days to reach the top and two to descend,” explained Holly’s mother, Leanne. After her trip to the summit, Holly reported the trip being  “very hard and very cold at top, with some almost suffering from hypothermia,” Shaw added. 

Holly is currently on a mission trip to Costa Rica.  

According to Tanzania National Parks, Kilimanjaro is the highest peak on the African continent, as well as the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, “rising in breathtaking isolation from the surrounding coastal scrubland to an imperious 19,336 feet.”