My family and I just returned from two weeks exploring Tanzania and Kenya. While this wasn’t an official ARCC scouting trip, we met and stayed with ARCC’s local Africa partners, traveled by overland truck crossing international borders much as we do in our Gap & Summer service programs.
It’s no coincidence that more and more American students are taking a gap year before heading off to college. Every year, more high schools, colleges, counselors, parents and students are embracing this opportunity to take a break from the traditional classroom and explore the world we live in. There are so many reasons to take a gap year
Meet ARCC Gap and Summer alumnus Willa! Willa first came to ARCC in 2014 as a student on our Tanzania: Safari and Solar service program. She had such a positive experience with ARCC in East Africa that she decided to take a Gap Semester in Latin America with ARCC in the Fall of 2015. She hails from Healdsburg, California and is halfway through her first semester at Colorado College (as a winter start)!
Choosing the right summer travel programs for high school students can be an overwhelming experience for many parents. After all, you are putting your trust in the hands of new people in places that are often far off the beaten path in distant corners of the world. Asking the right questions can help alleviate many of these concerns and allow your teenager to embark on a life changing experience and leave parents with peace of mind at the same time…
Hello from the village of Halaban, on the island of Sumatra, in the country of Indonesia. We are scouting out newest program, a summer program for high schoolers in Sumatra & Bali, about 4 hours north of Perth, Australia and about 2 hours east of Thailand. I mention this as many people aren’t aware exactly where Indonesia is located. This island nation is a fascinating blend of cultures with over 50 languages spoken here.
On our first day in Cuba, someone told me that Cuba “no tiene sentido ni razón” (has no sense or reason) and with each passing moment in Cuba, this becomes more apparent.
As a leader, this is my seventh ARCC trip — I am used to being flexible and rolling with the punches, but leading a teen service program in Cuba takes this to a whole new level. It’s a special time here. We are the first to run volunteer trips in Cuba […]
Clear blue skies, intense sun rays, and a cool breeze greet us as we emerge from our communal sleeping quarters in Patabamba, Cusco, Peru. Slight solemn smiles are smeared across our faces. The reality that we were leaving our homey village was combatted by the excitement for our river adventure. Our stay at Patabamba was something we didn’t expect.
Hola de Cuba, I am already enchanted by this wonderful nation filled with contrast: a spirited, vibrant population, mired in an infrastructure circa 1959, but extremely proud of their people, their country and their traditions, and always looking forward. Driving through the cities and small towns and seeing street after street of crumbling facades of once magnificent colonial buildings, you can’t help but wonder “what might have been?”.
It’s 6:55am and Sophia Weeks and I are in ‘Chair Class’ on a 5-hour train bound for Delhi. Chair Class means for $9 we are in a well-worn car with reserved seats…which were miraculously empty when we boarded in Haridwar. Chair Class is not as nice as luxury class where they serve rose-flavored yoghurt lassis (a taste reminiscent of sipping Glad bathroom spray) but certainly a step up from the standing room only crowd packed in further back. For nourishment we have a bag of fresh warm roti (thick savory pancakes) wrapped in newspaper that we purchased from a beckoning street vendor outside the station gates.
