Posted on: Sunday, April 2, 2006
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SAVVY TRAVELER
Travel/study programs prep well for life
By
Advertiser Columnist
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A parent who subsidizes his child's education can make no more rewarding contribution than to sponsor travel and study abroad. Exposure to other lands, peoples and cultures helps form a tolerant and informed citizen of the world. Travel expands the horizons of their hearts and minds in a hundred ways unrelated to the classroom. How better to address the challenges of adulthood in an uncertain world?
Today's students often pass up the standard sightseeing tour of Europe in favor of concentrating on far-flung academic, volunteer, cultural and "human potential" programs. Many councils, institutions and organizations offer opportunities for young folks to work with global contemporaries on projects involving scientific research, language learning, archaeological digs, literacy tutorials for the disadvantaged, self-reliance in the wilderness, humanitarian aid and scores of other focuses available to the intrepid teens of the 21st century.
Council on International Educational Exchange, (800) 407-8839 or www.ciee.org, a 59-year-old nonprofit institution, is the leading U.S. nongovernmental international education organization. Its award-winning programs encourage high school and university students and educators to study, volunteer, work and teach abroad. Rated tops by parents with enrolled youngsters.
STA Travel, world leader for 28 years in student travel, offers student-oriented travel services, overseas programs and products, including the indispensable International Student ID Card and cut-rate airfares and hotel/hostel rates; (800) 781-4040 or www.statra vel.com, click "Work and Learn."
Since 1984, the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel, (703) 739-9050 or www.csiet.org, has evaluated high school study programs with host families abroad. Its annual "Advisory List" ($17.50) provides details, financial advice and assistance on 80 reputable U.S. organizations, from giants like American Field Service to the smaller, specialized Educational Foundation for Foreign Study. This booklet helps parents make informed decisions about low-cost overseas study for their teenage children.
For the college and graduate-level student who wants a more traditional travel program, there are many wellorganized student tours that offer cycling, home stays, wilderness adventures, cultural explorations and a host of body and mind-stretching opportunities. Destinations range around the globe, with programs available to Asia, the South Pacific, Russia, North Africa, Britain, Europe and Canada. Prices for student travel average less than 70 percent of those charged for adult-oriented first-class tours, beginning as low as $600 to $700 per week including lodging, local transportation, sightseeing and/or instruction and most meals. Many of the youngsters who venture abroad have earned their own travel money from part-time jobs during the school year. This self-reliance may account for the exceptional maturity of the teens and twentysomethings who join international student tour and volunteer programs.
A pioneer of cross-cultural living and learning is the reputable Experiment in International Living, founded in 1932, (802) 358-3467 or www.experiment.org. Its mission is to facilitate affordable, college-level exchanges offered by its 23 member institutions around the globe.
The most prized college-level travel and study opportunity — the ultimate field trip — is the venerable Semester at Sea program operated by the Institute for Shipboard Education, (800) 854-0195 or www.semesteratsea.com. Under the new management of the University of Virginia, three study-abroad voyages on a worldwide itinerary will be offered each year aboard the modern, specially outfitted 650-passenger MV Explorer. Some 70 credit classes are presented six days a week while at sea, preparing students for what they will see and absorb on four- to five-day visits at ports of call around the globe. During the summer, graduate law courses, teacher certifications, and noncredit Continuing Education programs are offered.
A new model of floating-university will enter the water in early 2007. The Scholar Ship carrying 600 international students and faculty will offer two 16-week "transcultural explorations" per year, sailing in January and September. Dedicated exclusively to under- and postgraduate education, academic credits will be awarded by Macquarie University of Sydney, Australia, who will facilitate their transfer to students' home universities. Request details from The Scholar Ship, (410) 962-7344 or thescholar ship.com.
To investigate a few of the more challenging leadership, adventure and cultural travel programs that welcome student participation, you might begin by contacting: Outward Bound, (845) 424-4000 or www.outwardbound.com; National Educational Travel Council, (800) 771-2323 or www.educationaltravel.com; and Contiki Holidays, (866) 266-8454 or www.contiki.com, specializing in active journeys for travelers 18 to 35.
Top sponsors and operators of student travel progams ensure that group leaders are adults skilled in tempering overly rambunctious spirits and encouraging enquiring minds. Young solo travelers will be in good company, with fellow adventurers of compatible ages and interests. Parents report a high degree of satisfaction with well-managed traditional journeys as well as with educational tours and homestay programs. The young participants themselves tend to return home with a keener and kinder view of the world and its inhabitants.
Irene Croft Jr. of Kailua, Kona, is a travel writer and 40-year veteran globetrotter. Her column is published in this section every other week.
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