Through our Capture series, we have seen some incredible images from Tanzania and Costa Rica. Now we go to Peru with Brooke Warren, one of our photographer guides who worked in Peru last summer. While Machu Picchu tends to steal the show, there is much more to this incredibly diverse and beautiful country, and Brooke's photographs…
With only 55 days before the start of summer programs, everyone at Rustic is getting excited to welcome students to their countries and lead them on incredible adventures. Many of our staff have worked in their respective countries for years and truly consider it their second home—a place filled with friends, family, and memories. Our…
We hope that students get a lot out of their Rustic Pathways experience—that the impact of our programs is long lasting and far reaching. We want students to gain appreciation for a new culture, venture outside of their comfort zones and try new things, and return home with a love of learning and travel. This…
Senior Projects, Maymesters, Capstone Projects. If you're planning on doing one through your school, consider doing it with Rustic! This is a volunteer position in exchange for school credit. The senior project period must take place between May-June, 2015. During the senior project experience, you will work with our marketing and operations departments to further understand…
Happy Friday! We recently had the pleasure of running a program in the Dominican Republic for a group of college students from Rutgers University. Women from the Africana House at Douglass Residential College spent ten days in Monte Coco, one of the batey communities in the Dominican Republic, building a home for a family and…
With summer programs quickly approaching, anxiety about putting your child on a plane by themself might be building up. Did I make the right decision? Am I crazy sending my child to the other side of the world with complete strangers? Will my child be in good hands? We recently wrote to some parents of…
Editor’s Note: In an effort to spread awareness of our global projects and celebrate the passionate and courageous individuals that support the Rustic Pathways Foundation, we are launching a series of blog posts that will attempt to illuminate the perspectives of those who work on our projects on a daily basis. We begin this series…
For alumni interested in nonprofit work and development, check out the Development Ambassador position. This volunteer position is through the Rustic Pathways Foundation and is available to alumni of all ages. We are recruiting passionate and creative fundraisers who are eager to represent our global projects with integrity while helping us to reach our ambitious…
For most of our alumni, their Rustic experience doesn’t end just because their program is over. Our alumni return home and create clubs to help support their program’s community service initiatives, make videos about their experiences, start blogs—we even have a few alumni that have done TedTalks! These experiences stay with you, and have inspired…
[caption id="attachment_6822" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Brent Watkins, vice president of program operations[/caption] Happy Friday! Recently, our very own Brent Watkins, vice president of program operations, talked with goabroad.com about his experiences working with Rustic, his extensive travels in Southeast Asia, and about our programs in Burma. You can check out the interview on goabroad.com right here,…
Happy Thursday! Since our Gap Semesters kicked off on February 1st, we thought we would check in with a former Gap participant and ask about their experience. Enter Brooke Cornetet. Brooke traveled with us in 2013 on the South Pacific Service and Ocean Skills Semester and then again in 2014 on the Golden Lands…
To be quite honest, Turkey was not on my travel bucket list. If you asked me where I wanted to go next, I would say India, Colombia, Bora Bora, the grocery store—pretty much anywhere else besides Turkey. So when Ben Welbourn, one of the program managers in the Dominican Republic, told me he was going…
861,571. That's how many photographs we have collected from our programs over the years. Each summer we send photographer guides out on our programs to capture the stunning imagery that our students and staff have the privilege to witness firsthand. Some of those photos end up in our catalog and on the website, but a…
As promised, the 2014 Service Report is hot off the press and ready for your viewing pleasure. For those of you busy preparing for the holidays and can't read the whole report, below are a few cool stats worth highlighting: 152,379 service hours completed in 2014 25,000 hours dedicated to a potable water project in…