The Traveling Classroom

It’s one thing to learn about a different culture and country from a textbook, and then it’s completely different to experience them firsthand. Hear about the power of service learning from Mark Pim, a teacher from Springbrook High School, and why he takes his lesson plans and students out of the classroom and into the world.

Transcript

[Music] This is actually our third year working with Rustic Pathways. A group of teachers and myself were interested in trying to take an international trip. We wanted to combine service, learning about the environment, and the history of a country. So, when we had talked about what we wanted to do with our trip in a way that would be really deeply meaningful, Rustic Pathways came to the top of other groups that we looked at.

I know this trip has cemented for me what I wanted to do in college because I wanted to major in environmental studies, but after this trip, I’m more sure that I want to major in environmental engineering and do more things like the black water filtration systems and build more things like that.

I think we’ve seen a lot of really positive changes in the students this week. A lot of students have already said that they’ve changed what degree they want to pursue in college just based off of the community service that they’ve done here, which shows the impact that Rustic can have on students. I wanted to make a bigger impact than I might make just going on a vacation. I thought this way I could learn more about myself while also helping a community and, uh, helping children a little bit more. These trips can be life-changing for a couple of reasons. Most of our kids have never had a significant experience of doing any real meaningful service work, and they are doing it, they’re loving it, their work ethic is tremendous. I’ve been impressed with what the guys, the girls, the group gets done. I mean, it’s been amazing. And on this trip, they are seeing that they are making a difference in impacting others and they’re also seeing how it’s impacting themselves. [Music]

Ready to start planning a trip for your students? Click below to learn more about partnering with Rustic Pathways Group Travel.