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Hawaii Minimester Jigsaw Puzzle: 500 Pieces Difficulty Level: Hard This box contains: 10 students, 2 instructors, and 1 van Recommended: Ages 18+ Caution: Reference and instructions not included Our Hawaii Minimester is comparable to a jigsaw puzzle as each person, place, and memory represents an individual puzzle piece. As our program draws to a close, I’d like to take a moment to look back on the past month on all of our different puzzle pieces that have created o… Read more

The Costa Rica Mini Group is over halfway through their program and has had so many unique experiences. Read about their favorite ones so far! AsherFavorite moment: surfing in Uvita! My favorite part of surfing was learning a new hobby. I enjoyed it so much because it was very gratifying getting up on the board after so many tries. It was also fun doing a party wave with Rachel and Liv. LivFavorite moment: the sunset swim on our kayak expedition After a long morning … Read more

Bula! What an epic week here on the stunning island of Viti Levu here in Fiji. Our week began with our second day of service learning at Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. Led by park rangers Vili and Justin, we hiked out to the beach. In an effort to help battle the changes posed by climate change, we constructed some driftwood teepees. Their purpose was to trap the blowing sand and allow dune plant species to grow. Mel got a big workout by carrying a huge log down the… Read more

The South America journey continues in the Galapagos as all the students are overwhelmed with joy about seeing the unique biodiversity that it has to offer! The first day the group headed to the beach and were pleasantly (and sometimes unpleasantly) met with the presence of many, many sea lions. Next up was a kicker rock snorkel tour lead by our guide Danny which was a unique experience to be able to see an array of colorful marine life and beautiful (but freezing!) wat… Read more

Aloha everyone! O’ Reeve Warner kou inoea. I’m from Calgary Alberta Canada. I’m currently writing this to you as I sit beneath the stars in Volcanoes National Park. We just got back from seeing the red glow of a volcano with people who were once strangers, who are now the people I would consider my family. I graduated from high school in 2021 in the middle of a pandemic. I felt extremely lost after high school and wondered if I had made the right decision by deciding to … Read more

This was a huge week for all of us getting out of our comfort zones. We left the cozy comforts of St Arnaud and headed to Nelson to grab our expedition gear and plan for our three night backpacking adventure in Kahurangi National Park. We were all relieved to see that the weather was changing in our favor and that the low temperatures would now rise above the negatives (Celsius!) and the rain seemed like it would no longer follow us up the mountain. The night before we… Read more

Aloha everyone! Let’s start with an introduction. It’s crazy to imagine that we were strangers just a week ago. We thought to ourselves, we have lived, worked, eaten with, slept and pooped with these people. We have inspected each others bug bites, carried each other to safety during first aid training and every day is full of laughter. Everyone feels like family, but our journey is just beginning.  Since orientation in San Miguel, Costa Rica, we have visited an all su… Read more

Kia Ora!It’s been one month since we all have been in the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand. During this time we have been to the North and South Island. As a group we have decided  to share some insights from our travels in the form of Emojis. Have a read below to find out what we have been up to.  Lily: We’ve learned to really enjoy camping. Even though it’s been in the rain, the cold and sometimes the sun, we still have worked through it together an… Read more

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller    I’ve been thinking about this a lot quote for the past four weeks. Waking up in the morning, realizing that yet another day has passed by in the blink of an eye.  We are somehow already almost halfway through, causing the group to already begin talking about how sad it will be at the end. How we will all probably cry and hug each other like they do in … Read more

Aloha everyone! Let’s start with an introduction. My name is Jess Hall, and I’m from Virginia. After spending high school cycling competitively, I decided to take my first semester off from starting college and embark on this adventure, which has ultimately been one of the best choices I’ve ever made. At this point, I’m just under a month into my time here in Hawaii, and it’s been a life changing experience. If I were to tell you about every impactful moment that I’ve h… Read more