Blog

The Rustic Pathways Foundation is excited to announce our first-ever Alumni Advisory Board. This is an exciting new initiative aimed at engaging our most active alumni, providing exciting skill-building opportunities, and helping to push the Foundation toward our highest-impact year. The Alumni Advisory Board is comprised of six inspiring Rustic Pathways students who were among the top fundraisers for…

The following post was written by Victoria Shanghai Academy Deputy Principal Les Millard, who has partnered with Rustic Pathways for four years to provide his students with transformative travel experiences. Les plans all the CAS Week trips and other experiential learning opportunities for students at the school in Hong Kong. Victoria Shanghai Academy sends about…

Is Adventure Travel a part of your educator toolkit? Maybe it should be! Learn more about adventure travel at Rustic Pathways

With the latest news this week in Washington, we want to reassure families that Rustic Pathways programs are open to all students — including those who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming. As an organization, we have been committed to these principles of inclusivity for decades. In 2014, we established a formal policy that outlines…

Feb. 20 was the one-year anniversary of Cyclone Winston, the strongest storm ever recorded in the southern hemisphere. The storm left a trail of devastation across many of Fiji's 332 islands, killing 44 people and impacting 350,000 others.

With the recent changes in Washington many parents are asking themselves "is it safe for my child to travel abroad this summer"? Watch our most recent info session to learn more about how we keep your child safe on a Rustic Pathways program.

Have you heard? Star Alumni is BACK and we're beyond excited! We love providing our stand-out alumni with the ability to join us again because a second (or third, or maybe even fourth!) Rustic experience gives you the opportunity to improve both the cross cultural and personal skill sets you started to build on your…

As a parent, you want your child to succeed, not just in school but in his or her interpersonal relationships, post-graduation plans, and future career. Most of all, you want your kid to be happy; to know who they are and where they fit in the world. But we all know that when you’re a…

As 2016 draws to a close, here's a list to inspire your next adventure. We chose these destinations with the idea that unique experiences will always beat run-of-the-mill vacations. To me, the best way to travel is to step outside of your comfort zone and explore. So while you won't find any all-inclusive resorts on…

It's not hard to find anecdotal reports about the benefits of student travel. Knowing that students return from our programs having experienced some type of growth wasn't enough for us. So we created a framework to intentionally design our programs and assess what and how students learned from them. According to the results from our…

Experiences make us happier than things, according to science. "The good life, in words, may be better lived by doing things than by having things," psychologists Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich first wrote in their research paper titled To Do or To Have? That Is the Question.   It's not a new concept. The New…

Resources: Why You Should Spend Your Money on Experiences, Not Things Hill Tribes of the Golden Triangle Intro to Photography in Cuba The Refugee Youth Project Spanish Language Immersion Pacific Adrenaline To give the gift on an experience, start with Rustic's 2017 catalog.

Three schools co-created their school group travel programs with Rustic Pathways. Learn more about it here.

Together we're building a world that celebrates diversity, inclusivity, acceptance, and peace. These photos remind us that we live in an amazing world where diversity and a connected humanity should be celebrated.

The following photo series from Rustic Pathways staff member, Mary O'Connor, depicts life in the Prek Toal floating village in Cambodia. The friendly faces of the villagers, the vibrant colors of the produce, and the majesty of Angkor Wat at sunrise will make you feel completely at home. [caption id="attachment_11541" align="alignnone" width="640"] A woman paddles through Prek…

Discover effective tips for fundraising for a service learning trip. Learn proven strategies to raise funds and support your educational journey.

What you can expect from partnering with Rustic Pathways Group Travel. We understand that by planning a trip for your students you’re taking on extra responsibilities to provide an incredible learning experience beyond the classroom. Rustic Pathways will take all of the work off your plate so that you can focus on what truly matters,…

If you check out #traveldeeper on Instagram, you’ll find a slew of beautiful, vibrant travel photos. But what does it mean to “travel deep”? What’s the difference between capturing a well “liked” photo and having an authentic, culturally immersive experience? We can tell you it has nothing to do with the filter you choose. Actually,…

Supporting your child in their choice to take a gap year isn’t always easy. You might be worried they won’t return to school, nervous about them traveling abroad, or wondering if the investment is really worth it. We understand taking a gap year is a big decision for both our students and our parents. However,…

Name: Max Veenema Gap Year Program Leader: South Pacific Service and Ocean Skills How did you begin working for Rustic Pathways? I started working with Rustic in the Fiji Islands. I had come from California, where I spent much of my time in the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to experience a new culture while still…