With all the driving, students and chaperones collaborated on a playlist for the drive (check it out here) and enjoyed the picturesque campus and vistas of Boston, Amherst, Williamstown, and more! 

Read the Northeast College Tour blogs here!

The first week of break saw students embarking on a 5-day journey to Washington, DC, to visit some organizations such as USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Global Giving, and the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, among other influential human rights institutions. 

After the group arrived in DC on Monday, they considered the prompt: “Think about a moment from your own childhood when you first came into awareness of a human rights or humanitarian crisis. From where/whom did you receive this information? What were the people closest to you saying about it? Did you know of any organizations that were working to aid those most impacted by the crisis?”

Throughout the rest of the week, this AWAY trip met up with the various organizations to learn about the funding behind humanitarian support work, centering human-rights in environmental work, discussions about the psychology of “groupthink,” a visit to the National Mall, and more! 

Read more about the Washington DC AWAY Trip here!

A trip with significant outdoor activities, the California AWAY trip attendees were led by guides through an exploration of issues such as water rights, drilling, river conservation, drought, native lands, indigenous rights, and recreation through immersion in some of the US’s most spectacular public lands.

Upon arriving in California, the group packed up from LA and headed to Palm Springs en route to Joshua Tree National Park, the beginning of a series of incredible hikes, beautiful photography, and life-changing experiences! 

Throughout the week, students and chaperones explored places such as Joshua Tree National Park, Yosemite National Park, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

The second week of break, students explored key events of the most important period of US history in the 20th century and the impact those events are still having on today’s world. They traveled to important sites of the Civil Rights era throughout Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee, students will gain first-hand knowledge of the history and culture of this extraordinary time period. 

Before leaving campus, some members of the group prepared for the trip with a day of learning about the Civil Rights movement. They researched the locations and topics they would be encountering so that they could serve as “experts” for the rest of the participants at each stop on our tour. 

Throughout the week, they visited important and remarkable sites such as the Dr. King Center and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Slavery and Civil Rights Museum, the Rosa Parks Museum and toured the Southern Poverty Law Center, the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Medgar Evers home tour, Civil Rights Museum and more.

Read more about this AWAY trip here!

These AWAY trip experiences help students gain awareness and understanding of issues and opportunities beyond their usual encounters. In broadening their horizons, they develop the confidence and skills necessary to take action to serve and shape their worlds.