Question: What’s the number one way to make your student travel experience even more meaningful?
Answer: Work with a travel provider who puts education first—which is exactly what we do at Explorica!
Our educational travel programs take learning outside the classroom and put students in new and exciting environments that make any topic even more interesting. Instead of reading textbooks and memorizing facts, students are challenged to engage with their surroundings and connect their lessons to real life.
Why is this important? These days, students aren’t worried about the line items on their resumes—they want to feel invested in their work, passionate about their subject matter, and to know that they are impacting the greater good. Here’s how we help:
Authentic experiences
Using experiential learning techniques, we’ve developed exciting educational activities that ensure students are actively engaging with the sites they visit, absorbing their surroundings, and thinking deeply about the concepts that relate to both their destination and to their home communities. This way, they feel invested in the “why” and “how” rather than relying solely on the “who,” “what,” and “when.”
Before I traveled to the U.K., I never really thought about exploring different parts of the world. Now that I have gone on the trip, my perspective has flipped. I fell in love with the culture and aspects of each country that made them different from the United States.”
– Caroline, student traveler
Industry-best Tour Directors
Every Explorica tour is led by an experienced, professional Tour Director who guides the group every step of the way. They live and work in the destinations our tours visit, and they’re fluent in the local languages and customs. Our Tour Directors are specially trained to spark discussions that help students connect their on-tour experiences with lessons learned in the classroom.
During our trips to different landmarks, Maggie [our Tour Director] would explain the history and the culture of each place and always had the answers to any questions we asked her. Viewing these places meant so much more to me when I fully understood the history and stories behind them.”
– Abbie, student traveler
Cultural immersion
At Explorica, students don’t just visit new cultures—they are active participants in them. Whether it’s learning classic French culinary techniques in a cooking class in Paris, getting your hands dirty making a charcoal drawing in Italy, or digging into organopónicos (urban organic farming) in Cuba, our educational travel programs go behind the landmarks and uncover the rich subtleties of each destination’s long and storied history.
Being able to hike the Amazon jungle and go white water rafting in the Napo River became something impossible to share with the outside world. It was a learning experience that only I could display within myself and extract lessons that I could apply in other areas in my life.”
– Tkay, student traveler
Academic credit
Our commitment to learning is recognized by accrediting bodies across the nation and leading colleges and universities. We are a fully accredited educational institution just like your school, so middle school students traveling with Explorica on an international itinerary can earn free high school credit for their tour experiences. And we partner with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) so high school students have the opportunity to earn college credit, too!
For more information, contact academiccredit@explorica.com.