Allie Neugeboren, Features Editor
@alneugiecourant
Imagine exploring Southeast Asia with your best friend as well as a bunch of strangers, traveling through its countries and villages to help mend houses, build schools, and study the culture. Imagine doing this all in 21 days, alongside a native speaking tour guide and experiencing the society first hand. If any of this appeals to you, consider spending your spring break or summer abroad with Rustic Pathways.
Service projects are not unknown to many NCHS students. Students love to experience the world whilst giving back to lesser communities. College and Career Center Coordinator, Susan Carroll feels that Rustic Pathways is an amazing opportunity for NCHS students to learn and have fun in a special way. “It is a company out of Ohio that has a very fine reputation with organizing student travel, gap years, and planning alternate spring break trips for college students to give students a different experience to what their norm is and also to understand all of the different culture that the rest of the world enjoys,” Ms. Carroll said. “I like that fact that the people who work for Rustic Pathways are not just American teachers for example, if you’re in South America you’ll be guided by someone who is from there and speaks the native language. I think that culturally is very important.”
Ms. Carroll feels that Rustic Pathways is beneficial to NCHS students because it’s a once in a lifetime adventure that not many people get to take advantage of. “The language experience is so valuable to students, but I think the philanthropy is so great too, if you’re interested in engineering for example, you could literally be in an African village putting in a water system,” she said. “It’s not just helping somebody who could use your assistance, it also aligns with what you’re actually interested, which I think is kind of wonderful.”
This past summer, junior Chris Greene, traveled to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam through Rustic Pathways. Chris feels that by traveling on his own, he was able to have an experience he’s never had before. “My family travels a lot so I wanted to continue in their footsteps, but go places that my family wouldn’t,” Chris said. “I went alone and had a great time meeting new people, I’m glad I didn’t bring anyone because the people who brought someone were really secluded.”
Junior Sandra Sigurgeirsdottir, also went on this trip at a different time, and she feels that her trip taught her lessons and memories she will never forget. “I slept on the floor of a bamboo hut in this children’s home on mats in tents to keep the bugs out. Then we went to a refugee camp and stayed with people who fled from Burma, which was very scary, but the memorable moments were when I was nervous and sleeping in unusual places,” she said.
Other students at NCHS, such as freshman Luke Nolan, have not yet participated in a summer travel program, but looks forward to doing so this upcoming summer. Luke is going to the Bahamas to study Marine Biology and learn about the Caribbean civilization through a program known as the Island School. “I’m going to be learning about marine biology from a teacher during the morning, but later we will do fun activities like scuba diving, snorkeling and kayaking,” Luke said.
Staying a little closer to home, senior Jake O’Neill, plans to attend a Steubenville conference at the University of Massachusetts with the youth group, StAY, from Saint Aloysius Church. “It’s a three-day retreat that starts out as a meet and greet, and then leaders relay their personal spiritual experiences with us,” he said. “Then at night it gets fun, there are concerts and entertainment, it’s definitely more spiritually based in the day, and more excitement at night.”
Jake feels that the retreat is an opportunity for hm to connect with people in a different way than school, and he looks forward to the experience. “I learn so much and love these trips because it brings me together with a lot of other people my age who believe and think the same thing as me spiritually, where at home there is not such a big group like it,” Jake said.
Similarly, senior Daniel Kushner, who has been on six mission trips with the Congregational Church youth group, is traveling to Belize to complete service projects. “These trips are important to me because of the rehabilitation projects we do, especially where people live is very important,” he said. “Some places don’t suit habitable conditions and that’s very sad and if I can help out in anyway, I would like to. I hope my impact on people’s lives is greater since I am now a senior leader,” he said.
Daniel encourages that people consider to look into a summer program, if it is something that you’re interested in. “Service trips are definitely only for a certain type of person, if you’re lazy or into yourself, you’re not going to want to put the effort into help other people, but it depends on the type of person.”
Sandra also adds that she feels traveling throughout high school is a great way to prepare her for her future when she experiences the world on her own. “I learned all the new culture and saw how different this country was, I got to experience new things I never would have, a new way of life outside of New Canaan and the ‘bubble’,” she said.
