For 80 Selma students, the world has been getting a little smaller lately.

Part of the Concordia College Upward Bound program, 80 high school students recently completed a trip to Chicago.

The point of visiting the Windy City wasn’t a Cubs game. The group went to broaden their horizons and find out a little more about the world we all live in.

Every year that goes by, it becomes harder and harder to ignore the rest of the world. And despite our best efforts, for good or ill, it’s impossible to prevent to keep the outside world on the outside.

While it’d be nice to live in Selma and stay here the rest of our lives, the fact remains that what happens outside the city limits, be it in Selmont or Chicago, matters to Selmians.

And those students returning from Chicago know a little more about themselves and others due to their trip.

As the economy becomes global and cultures collide and merge, it helps to know that other points of view matter and that people really aren’t all that different know matter were you go.

That’s what Upward Bound’s trip is all about, encouraging students to think outside their comfort zones and making Selma, along with the rest of the world, a better place to live.