Schools
Ramsey Students Prepare For ‘World Challenge’ Trip To Peru
Students will plan sleeping arrangements, go white water rafting, and be immersed in a different culture during the 14-day trip, educators say
About 60 Ramsey High School students are preparing for a trip they will never forget. Come summer 2013, the group will head to Peru for 14 days to participate in the ‘World Challenge’ program.
According to Smith Middle School principal Stacie Poelstra, who is one of the advisors going on the trip with the students, it will be an exercise in independence. Students will be responsible for making many of the decisions and travel plans while exploring the country.
“They’ll be managing their money, deciding what to eat, whether to stay at a campground or in a hostel for the night,” Poelstra said.
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The ‘World Challenge’ program offers educational expeditions to countries around the world. The trips are designed to include exposure to different cultures, decision-making and leadership-building opportunities, and a physical component, through which students explore countries by hiking, trekking, white water rafting and other physical challenges. Ramsey students will travel in four groups, each with a faculty advisor and ‘World Challenge’ representative.
Ramsey first participated in the program in the summer of 2011, when 22 students went to Costa Rica.
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“That experience was just phenomenal for the students,” Poelstra said. “It really took their blinders off in terms of what life is like outside of the US.”
This year, students planning to go on the challenge will have an “added benefit,” she said. Next semester, they will be enrolled in a course at the high school that will teach Latin American history and culture, as well as engage students in team-building and travel safety activities.
The students and their families pay their own way on the trip. So, they are also organizing fundraising efforts that Poelstra said will likely happen throughout the school year. So far, students already manned a booth at Ramsey Day and sold items at a huge garage sale on the high school front lawn.
The program “really is a great way for students to learn about the world and about themselves,” she said. “They get the chance to see how much they can really accomplish without an adult telling them what to do.”
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