Pacific Ridge School Students Return From Global Adventures

Leonie Beiten of Carlsbad and Dana Carney of Carmel Valley are two of more than 480 Pacific Ridge School students and staff who spent the past few weeks experiencing academic, service learning, and cultural experiences around the world.

During the school’s year-end global travel period, 7th through 10th grade students travel on class-wide trips to the Santa Monica Mountains (7th grade), Williamsburg (8th grade), China (9th grade) and the Northern Sierras (10th grade). Juniors and seniors have the option of choosing from one of the school-designed trips or designing their own year-end trips or internships.

Beiten, a junior, traveled with a group to El Salvador, where she worked with children in the Angeles Descalsos (Barefoot Angels) Urban Youth Program. Students spent their days organizing activities for the children that included English lessons, crafts, and games. The group also had a chance to explore the countryside through visits to rural villages, a zipline tour over the Apeneca Canopy, and a boat ride around scenic Lake Coatepeque. 

Carney traveled with the ninth-grade class to China. Students began in Beijing with an exploration of the city’s ancient sites and the Great Wall, then traveled to two distinctly different parts of China: the provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan. Students’ activities ranged from volunteering at rural primary schools and teaching English at high schools, to Chinese cooking lessons, regional dancing, hiking through rice paddies, and homestays with families of Pacific Ridge’s sister school, Shidong High School in Shanghai.

Additional Pacific Ridge trips included an ecological exploration of Costa Rica’s cloud forests, a culture and diplomacy-focused-trip to Israel and the West Bank, a service-based trip teaching English and installing water filtration systems in rural Cambodia, a journey through India’s vibrant culture and traditions, and many more. 

“Global engagement is a key piece of our mission, and is reflected in every aspect of our curriculum,” said Dr. Bob Ogle, Pacific Ridge Head of school. “The year-end global travel period gives students the opportunity to take their learning beyond the classroom walls.”