For 40 years, ARCC has offered extraordinary summer programs for teens. ARCC offers 33 summer program options on five continents. Our summer travel programs for teens take place between June and August and last from two to four weeks.
We work diligently to ensure the sense of discovery and adventure is genuine throughout all our summer programs. By traveling to locations rarely visited by outsiders, we are able to provide unique, immersive, and educational experiences for our students.
Three Summer Program Types
ARCC offers three distinct styles of programming for our summer offerings:
Cultural Immersion Programs
ARCC Cultural Immersion Programs expose our students to the many facets of a culture, from language, customs, and food to religion and history. Interspersed throughout the group’s travel are lectures by topic experts such as professors and NGOs, language schools, cooking classes, projects with local populations and in some cases a “group stay” in a local home. It is our goal that by the end of your ARCC cultural immersion program you think about this part of the world as a second home.
Focus Programs
ARCC Focus Programs drill down into a single topic important to the country or region of travel. We bring in experts to educate our students on these topics and then get hands-on experience working with these experts. In some cases, we participate in important scholarly research doing fieldwork alongside professors and grad students. On other programs, we are gaining knowledge and skills and working to protect precious global resources. It is our goal that by the end of your ARCC Focus Program you are extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of the program’s focus topic.
Service Learning Programs
ARCC Service Learning Programs provide authentic and meaningful service learning opportunities for our students. Using travel as a backdrop, these programs are designed to be rich, fulfilling experiences that make a positive impact both on the communities we work with and on our own students. Together we discuss and consider all aspects of this experience and we tackle tough questions such as “Are we really doing ‘good’?” and “The pros and cons of voluntourism”. It is our goal that by the end of your ARCC Service Learning Program you have had meaningful encounters with the peoples and the lands you have visited and come away proud of the impact you have made.
Cultural Immersion Programs
Focus Programs
Alaska: Leadership in the Last Frontier
Bali & Sumatra: Protecting Reefs and Rainforests
Belize: Caribbean Reef Conservation
Colorado & Utah: Canyons and Conservation
Costa Rica: Protecting Rainforest Wildlife
Yellowstone & Grand Teton: Wildlife of the West
National Parks: America’s Treasures
Temporarily Paused
Pacific Northwest: Wild Adventure
Temporarily Paused
Service Learning Programs
California: Urban and Wilderness Service
Costa Rica: Cloud Forest Community Initiative
Ecuador & Galapagos: Island and Village Impact
Kenya & Tanzania: Lighting Lives
Thailand: Elephants and Islands
Vietnam & Cambodia: Project Clean Water
Cuba: Public Health Initiative
Temporarily Paused
Southeast Asia: Grassroots Initiatives
Temporarily Paused
