High school summer travel programs are an experience of a lifetime for teens. They also provide a wealth of benefits. Our students immerse in new cultures, gain historical perspective, and lend a helpful hand on meaningful service projects. High school participants not only get a broader vision of the world but can help impact it for the better.
Just before our spring break in 2018 (around late March and early April), 11 students from KLS, including myself, spent about two weeks exploring Cambodia with each other and ARCC. Our trip was greatly centered around service, as well as tourism and more general exploration. Cambodia also has a rich, dark history, much of which we spent time before and during our trip learning about.
Since it’s inception in 1970, Earth Day has grown to symbolize our global recognition that the environmental issues that face our planet not only have to be tackled on the ground but must also be addressed as a global community. Observed in over 190 countries, Earth Day is celebrated every April 22 with demonstrations and special events to bring awareness and show support for important environmental topics and legislation. Considered the largest non-secular holiday in the world…
ARCC has been operating summer volunteer programs in Costa Rica since 1993 and these Costa Rica service programs have continued to be our most popular destination for almost 25 years and it’s for good reason: each year we return to the same communities year after year to volunteer on community-driven service projects. Through the years we’ve built deep relationships through meaningful service and immersion in these communities.
We are often asked how ARCC’s summer community service programs for high school students and gap year programs for high school graduates were conceived and created. We’ve been running summer programs for teens for over three decades. When we were founded, in 1983…
There is something mysteriously majestic and almost human about the earth’s largest land mammal: the human-like eyes, the muscular grandeur, the millions of wrinkles suggesting the wisdom of the ages. Elephants are unimaginably strong, immeasurably smart, and undeniably interesting, which is why no trip to Thailand is complete without an interaction with these creatures. This is why the spotlight service project of our Thailand: Elephant Experience trip focuses on conserving these incredible mammals by learning…
Here at ARCC we offer unique and collaborative summer service programs abroad for high school students. These range from improving access to clean water for Cambodian villagers by building bio-sand water filters to bringing solar light to homes in Tanzania. No matter the project, the goal is common: to form connections between our students and local communities, working together to create long-lasting change and maximize a positive impact.
Even after poring over your packing list, attending your pre-trip briefing, and practically memorizing your itinerary, so much can feel uncertain to a first-time traveler. But after spending a summer traveling across the globe with a dozen strangers-turned-family, your first-timer fears are history. As an ARCC alumnus…
We are entering our 35th summer of running summer programs for teens. Over these years we have had the opportunity to bring tens of thousands of students across the globe to destinations far off the beaten path to explore, adventure and make a difference in local communities. Whether in the rural areas of Thailand’s Chiang Mai Province, high in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, on a small Fijian Island in the South Pacific or here at home on the streets of San Francisco, we are incredibly proud of the impact our students have had on the places and communities they have visited.
I’m sitting in a tiny Costa Rican open-air cafe, drinking a well-needed, semi-cold Sprite. My large backpack filled with months worth of my personal belongings beside me. I’ve just ordered something off a laminated menu. I think chicken and rice, but honestly, I’m not quite sure, as I hardly speak any Spanish at all. Internally I’m kicking myself for the eight years of German I studied in school – Spanish would be pretty handy right about now.
ARCC Programs