360 Student Travel Brochure: Summer 2016

14
Travel experiences. Life experiences!
Service Projects at a Glance
Whether it’s digging irrigation tunnels for better water access in South Africa or lending a
hand (and an ear!) at a Seniors’ home in rural Peru, 360° Student Travel community
service programs participate in a wide array of meaningful projects on five continents!
With the help and direction of our longstanding local partners on the ground, our projects focus
on three main themes: infrastructure, education, and environmental sustainability. Check out
some noteworthy projects we completed in previous summers to give you a glimpse at how we
make our summers count!
COSTA RICA
LEGEND
Partner: Costa Rican
Humanitarian Foundation
Infrastructure
With the Costa Rican
Humanitarian Foundation we
helped build a home for Santa Ana
resident Julietta and her family.
Over the course of three days we
dug a 5-foot hold for the septic
tank, hollowed out a trench and
laid a water pipe and prepared
the foundation of the house and
front yard. At the end of our time
there Julietta addressed our group,
saying we were not just part of
the story, but part of a dream. She
made us feel like a member of her
family, welcoming us back and
offering us a place to stay.
Education
Environmental
Sustainability
2015 VOLUNTEER
HOURS:
29,743.5
To put that number into
perspective, it would equate
to 1 person working nonstop,
24/7, every single day
of the year, for 3.4 years!
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
HAWAII
SOUTH AFRICA
THAILAND
Partner: Ranchos Primicias
Reforestation Project
Partner: Boys & Girls Club,
Windward Clubhouse
Partner: Children’s Eco
Training
Partner: Patara Elephant
Farm
The goal of the Ranchos Primicias
Reforestation Project is to reforest
the natural habitat of the Giant
Tortoise and the endemic Darwin
Finch, a bird famously named
after the evolutionary theorist who
discovered it on the Galapagos
island of Santa Cruz. In summer
2015 one of our groups planted
200 indigenous trees to aid in
reforestation there. We learned
about balance
in ecology and
removed intrusive
species and
helped replace
them with native
plants.
At the Boys and Girls Club
Windward Clubhouse in Kailua,
we directed programming for the
children and teens of the club.
We also led a “Map Talk” which
created an opportunity to learn
about the different areas of the US
and Canada we come from. The
Boys and Girls Club members also
pinned places they were from, their
place of origin prior to moving to
Hawaii, places they have visited,
and places they wished to visit.
Our project with Children’s Eco
Training was to construct 28
sustainable vegetable gardens at
the Klaserie School so that teachers
can cook meals for students. Often
times, the only meal students eat
the whole day is provided by the
gardens on school property. The
project started by mapping out
the location and then, working in
teams, with a local leader from the
community,
we dug the
foundation of
the garden,
then laid
bricks and
cement for
the entire
structure.
For two days we volunteered at the
Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang
Mai where we had the opportunity
to be elephant caretakers for a
day. We fed them bananas and
sugar cane and bathed them in a
nearby river. We helped apply the
elephants’ daily skin care, which
keeps them happy and healthy. The
elephant population of Thailand
has plummeted in the past century.
We learned a great deal about
their needs and conservation
initiatives in place to ensure they
are protected.