Dominican Republic and India are the two international destinations for the 2019 Spring Break and summer service project trips to help children and locals in need.

The Dominican Republic trip is a seven-day trip mostly in the Northern Coast Region, with one day in Santiago. The tentative day of departure is April 13.

“Having been in the Dominican Republic for my service training tour, it is really cool to be in a country like that where you are off the beaten path and you get to see inside the communities,” English teacher and leader of the school’s international trips Skyla Ausel said.

With a total of about 20 service hours, the service project is focused on local youth development and empowering children. This could include tutoring local students in English, educating village members about community health issues, or mentoring children in the community through after-school activity programs.

”Usually the kids want to work with children” Mrs. Ausel said. Mrs. Ausel is able to request certain activities to do within the service project.

The service projects are determined closer to the actual date to fit the community needs. Other activities will include exploring the tropical beaches and visiting a mangrove forest.

The India trip will be the first summer tour and it will be a 12-day trip while visiting Delhi, Udaipur, the Free the Children Community, and Agra. The tentative departure date is June 24.

This trip has a total of about 15 service hours, as days five through 11 are service days, and the service project will be focusing on connecting to culture and service in India. The rest being for travel and tourist activities such as visiting the Taj Mahal and participating the Bollywood dance lessons.

“We had a really great group and sense of community, you get pretty close with everyone on the trip since you are with the group so much,” junior Katrin Stafford said.

The service project is based with Free the Children and could involve clean water and sanitation, education, health, alternative income, or agriculture. Service also includes working aside locals, building and restoring projects in school community, planting trees and gardens, and tilling ground for crops for sustainable food sources.

“The service we did was really eye opening and it was nice to be able to see the people that we were helping,” senior Rebecca Tunney said.

The total cost of the Spring Break trip is $3,205 and the cost for the India trip is $5,985. The prices include everything from the flights and hotels to the dinners, which is all organized by Education First, one of the oldest student travel organizations for 50 years.

“My favorite part of the trip was the service that we did at the community,” Tunney said. “We were able to go off and talk to people…and open to doing different things that aren’t on the itinerary. It was just an awesome trip.”