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Posts Tagged ‘high school’

March 16th, 2010 by GLA Executive Director

Featured Program: Organic Farming in UK

We’re extremely excited about our program UK: Organic England – this 10-day experience focuses on the organic food and sustainable agriculture. More and more people are becoming conscious of the issues surrounding the way our food is produced and transported. This program explores those issues through thought-provoking and tasty visits to places in London as well as through hands-on volunteer work at an organic farm in Wales.

Download a detailed program schedule.

The first few days take place in London where we’ll meet with people involved in the Slow Food UK movement, check out the sites in London, and visit organic farmers markets. One highlight will be visiting Jamie Oliver‘s award-winning restaurant Fifteen (he recently won the TED Award for his work on food issues). This high-class London restaurant combines top-notch cuisine and is also a training center for disadvantaged youth to learn a skill. We’ll tour Fifteen, learn about its work and also receive a cooking class from one of the staff members.

We’ll then spend five days in rural Wales volunteering on an organic farm. We’ll be on the Trebberfed Farm helping feed animals, harvest produce, erect fences, and weed crops – all while learning first hand about organic agriculture and sustainable food production. In the afternoons, we’ll visit gold mines, historic castles and even spend time on the Cardigan Coast.

Download a detailed program schedule.

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November 24th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

Sleeping under the stars in the Australian Outback

Our new 2010 catalog just came out and I’m especially excited about our program in the Australian outback.  When I was in college I remember looking for programs in Australia, but was disappointed that most programs stayed on the coast – Sydney, or to the eastern side of the country (Canberra and Melbourne).

So, the new Global Leadership Adventures program is innovative because we’re flying deep into the heart of the Australian outback where we’ll volunteer in aboriginal communities and learn about their traditional culture.  High school students will have the chance to learn about aboriginal spirituality, dot-painting, traditional herbal medicine and how to survive in the bush.

Since we’ll be out in the bush, we’ll be camping as we slowly make our way from Darwin, down to Alice Springs.  I can’t wait for the first group to go, I hope to join them.  Sleeping under the stars far from civilization sounds perfect as we head into winter here in the USA!

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February 25th, 2009 by admin

The GLA Vision

I co-founded Global Leadership Adventures in 2004 to help address what I saw as a pressing need for the world: a need for a new generation of leaders that is able to tackle the challenges of the increasingly inter-connected world we live in.

The greatest challenges over the next few decades are problems that can only be solved through global cooperation. Think about it: climate change, the energy crisis, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and terrorism are challenges that cannot be solved without engaging actors from various corners of the world in the solution. I realized that there was an urgent need to develop a new breed of leader that has deep personal connections to peers across the world, and that has had first-hand experience of global issues such as poverty, climate change, HIV/AIDs.

This is what inspired me to launch GLA – a vehicle for developing these leaders who will lead the world into the 21st century.

- Fred Swaniker

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February 11th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

Choosing a Teen Summer Program (Part II)

In Part I of this thread, I gave some very specific questions and criteria to consider when evaluating a summer program for high school student.  However, in this post I’m going to go abstract.

Let me back up and explain.  Last week GLA started attending these yearly “Summer Opportunity Fairs” held by high schools around the country.  As we stood there looking at all the options, we realized that the average family would probably find it difficult to distinguish between the quality of the organizations just by looking at them.  Most likely, families will judge by the catalog they pick up rather than the quality of the program.

However, after speaking with organizations extensively and from my experience working in the field, I know that not all programs are the same.  There is a wide variety of programs – from “fun in the sun” to “teen adventure” to “Caribbean sailing” to “community service and global issues” (the last one is Global Leadership Adventures).  But it’s a bit disturbing to see how organizations are just throwing token community service into every program just because students are now required to earn community service hours for their school.

So, my tip for selecting a summer program is this: don’t just read the words of a catalog, don’t just scan the page for “community service” and assume that’s what is really being offered —- instead, “read” the imagery, read the subtext of what is being said through the photos, the structure of the program, the type of staff — what are the communicating on all levels.  And is this what is right for your student?

Some teenagers are genuinely not emotionally mature enough to handle certain types of programs and may thrive in more of a light-hearted, fun-focused environment.  While others are ready to be pushed outside of their comfort zone and be challenged to think deeply about what it means to be a global citizen in a world of poverty, epidemics and other global challenges.

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February 6th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

Choosing a Teen Summer Program (Part I)

Parents call me all the time asking about GLA, but often it emerges that they don’t even know how to think about choosing a summer program.  They’re bombarded by a ton of catalogs and often just select whichever organization has the prettiest catalog.  Obviously, this is not the best way to figure out where to send your teenage son or daughter.

Our calls usually turn into sessions where I help parents construct a mental framework to think about all the summer program options available.  Here are some of the key questions to ask:

1. Honestly (really, honestly) how emotionally mature and globally minded is your child?  This can help you answer whether they are even ready for an international program.  If you’re not sure if they’re ready, then maybe start with a 1 week program in Latin America.  If they have already traveled extensively with school or family, then let them go further out.

2. What is the objective of doing the summer program?  Is it purely for fun?  Is it to foster personal development?  Is it to earn some needed community service hours?  Is it to explore a personal passion about a certain part of the world?  Its amazing how many families haven’t asked themselves what they hope to get out of the program.  Start with the general goal and then work backwards.

3. What kind of peer group do you want your child to be surrounded by?  Is it an all-American group?  Do all the students come from the same part of the USA?  Is the student body diverse?  If so, in which way?

Global Leadership Adventures prides itself on trying to recruit an international student body.  Although the majority of students still come from the USA and UK, we have students from throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America.  For some families, this is not what they want.  For others, getting their son or daughter to be part of an international student body is a unique benefit.

I realize now that there are a lot more things to consider when choosing a teen summer program.  I will continue this thread in a separate post.

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January 20th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

Living with the Masai

I just got back from the inaugural journey of our teen service trips to Tanzania, Africa.  It was an amazing experience.  Here are some highlights:

The Camp: after driving for over 4 hours on dirt roads through what seemed like the middle of nowhere, we arrived at a patch of land that

High school summer program tanzania - Masai Bush Camp - Global Leadership Adventures

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would be our campsite for the next few days.  It turned out to be more comfortable than I expected.  The tents were high quality, clean and the staff created private “bathroom” and “shower” tents.

Community Service: Our community service project was working at the local school, which was about 20 minutes away through the bush.  Since school was on break, we were joined by members of the community to help paint 4 classrooms.  The classrooms were in pretty bad shape, so it took us 4 days to get them looking like new.  Most students thought that the best part of the service project was playing with the little kids who came by the school “to see the white people”.

Cultural Immersion: For me, the most interesting aspect was learning more about Masai culture.  Although they are often photographed by travelers, most people do not stop and try to really learn about their rich cultural heritage.  We had an amazing local Masai Program Director who helped us reflect on what we were observing and helped us understand things that did not make sense at first glance.

The girls on the program bonded with the women who taught them how to do beadwork.  The Masai beadwork is so intricate and beautiful.  I would have liked to learn it, but according to Masai tradition, only woman do beadwork.  So, I joined the boys who were learning how to throw spears.  None of us could properly throw a Masai spear – we ended up being entertainment for the local Masai warriors.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I’m excited to be able to continue working with the school board in the village where we worked.

More photos can be found here.

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December 15th, 2008 by GLA Executive Director

A Spark in the Teenage Years

“How do you know if your programs are successful?” A question often directed to me.

Previously, I’ve written about the unexpected outcomes of study abroad programs. Along the same lines, I would say that I would consider our programs a success if our alumni become “activated”. Whether our programs spark a student to learn a new language, pursue a new course of study, start a non-profit, fall in love with a country, or take up a cause. If we can facilitate a spark, an activating event, I think we’ve done well.

A spark in the teenage years can be especially powerful because high school students are still open to the possibilities that life holds before them. Whereas, my work with college students often found that they already knew (or thought they knew) what they were going to do in life and were simply looking for a way to reinforce what they already wanted to do.

One of the reasons I enjoy working with high school students is that they have not necessarily decided on which college to apply to, what to major in, or even thought about their own self-identity.

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