As the 2014-2015 school year comes to a close, the Archer faculty and administration have announced two Archer Abroad trips that will be offered to Upper School students for the 2015-2016 school year.

“All Archer Abroad courses provide students the opportunity to travel and learn thoughtfully and purposefully,” Director of Archer Abroad Travis Nesbitt wrote in an email interview.

“They are uniquely rich and beneficial in that they require substantive preparation before travel, meaningful exchanges with local populations on the ground and a concerted effort to transfer lessons learned abroad back to student lives at home.”

Guatemala

Students and two faculty members will partner with Where There Be Dragons as they spend nine days in Guatemala where they will “explore the history, beliefs and practices that compose a Mayan worldview,” Nesbitt wrote.

Archer girls will work with local girls from the Pavarotti School for four days and an indigenous permaculture research center to “explore issues of social and environmental justice in Guatemalan and Mayan context,” Nesbitt wrote.

Science teacher Jerilyn Joel and Librarian Stefanie Daehler will chaperone the trip.

Belize

The Belize marine ecology program is a new trip for the Archer Abroad program.

A group of either six or 12 students will travel to Belize for nine days for a field study where students and faculty will explore the Belizean rainforest, protect bottlenose dolphins and track wild jaguars while focusing on conservation efforts. Students will have the opportunity to work with a local school and visit a Mayan cultural center.

12th grade dean, Honors Research and honors biology teacher, Hanna Shohfi is in charge of organizing and chaperoning the trip.

The trip is an “opportunity to study science in a natural setting” and experience a “cultural exchange with Belizean students,” Shohfi said.

Students will work with local students to create a research project on their findings.