March through June (trip season) is when most groups travel every year. Behind the scenes, there is a lot of time and energy put into every single one of our student group trips by the Global Travel Alliance’s staff. We pride ourselves on providing personalized, one-of-a-kind service, allowing people of all ages to experience their trip-of-a-lifetime. The apple of our eye though is the Service Scholar program, and the life changing stories we get to hear and experience from every trip we coordinate. Our Service Scholars trips, designed for high school students, are a definite highlight of every trip season. They take world travel one more step by giving back to and serving that destination’s local community.

Most recently, we had Service Scholars travel from Colorado, Utah and Montana to meet up in Costa Rica. Four students from the innovative Leaf Cutter Project also joined them. The group partnered with Global Doing Good to build a new house for a family in need. This family of three (pictures below), previously called a 60 square foot crudely built shack, with a dirt floor full of ants and termites, home. Their front door was “locked” at night using a well-worn scrap of rope.
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Thanks to this awesome group of service-minded high school students, this young family can now live and sleep in the safety of their new home; concrete floors, sturdy walls, windows, door handle and key included!
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by Paul Belanger, Director of Gtrek
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​Floating in the middle of the Caribbean Sea on the Belize barrier reef, I pulled my head from the water and rolled on my back to take in the surrounding setting. I was immersed in coral blue water. Looking east, I saw the endless horizon of the sea, in the far distance in all directions water and the outlines of small Caye’s, and below me, the most intensely beautiful coral reef and more wildlife in one view than I could possibly ever see in a full day of walking through the mountains in my home state of Montana.
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More immediate to me, I saw bobbing heads and snorkel’s, my 16 high school students (the “Service Scholars”) and our personal guides and marine experts from EcoMar floating and diving over the reef. I hear the muffled scream of astonishment come from the snorkel tube of a nearby student and I look down below me and see a gorgeous spotted Eagle Ray swim below me, and then a docile nurse shark comes into view, and from nowhere just in front of me a stunning Permit fish. I too am astonished and cannot help but grin from ear to ear which consequently, immediately fills my mask with salt water. I turn over again, clear my mask and then notice my co-leader, Dr. Mikki McComb-Kobza a shark researcher, passionate ocean conservationist and Executive Director for the Ocean First Institute, swimming up to me. She says “Oh my gosh, did you see that spotted Eagle Ray? I can’t believe what we're seeing.” I reply, “Mikki, look at this, look around us.” We see more bobbing heads, more muffled cries of astonishment, Nidia, one of our EcoMar instructors pointing out to a small group of students the green mora eel and other colorful fish. Mr. Johnny, part of the husband and wife team that run EcoMar, is showing kids how to clear their ears so they can dive deeper. One kid comes up and screams “I did it!” Another is struggling and Mr. Johnny gives her some more patient encouragement. I say to Mikki, “Can you believe this, look where we are. Look at what our students are doing, experiencing, and learning about. I have been dreaming and working for this type of experience with students for over 20 years, and it is happening.” We both grin, fist bump, then move on to join the others.
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​In my 20+ years of working as an educator in the mountains of Montana and guiding student groups through the wilds of Grand Canyon, Teton, Yellowstone, Everglades National Parks, to Costa Rica and other destinations close to home and abroad, I have never had a group nor a trip like this. Don’t get me wrong, I can say with 100% certainty that all of my trips have been exceptional. There are moments of astonishment every time, students always test their comfort zones, make new friends and develop new skills and knowledge. But, this Service Scholars trip to Belize was different. Mikki has a similar background as mine in conservation and education and she felt the same. Our instructors at EcoMar also noticed how our group was “different”. Matt, our professional film maker on the trip to document everything, said the same thing and asked me one evening; “Paul, are all of your Global Travel Alliance groups like this? There is something different going on here.” The question is a good one and my response was “Yes, all of our groups are special. No matter where we go and what we do, our programs and our groups are different.” I know this because I hear it from the group leaders, our partners and vendors that tell us to bring more groups, and from others. But, I say to him,

“This group, this trip is taking things to the next level and it is intentional.”

The whole concept behind our Service Scholars program is to take students beyond the trip and to provide a program that helps build character and leadership skills, and also provides inspiration and perspective on possible future careers and to serve. The Global Travel Alliance Founder and President is a passionate educator and has instilled deep into the fabric of our company philosophy that at Global Travel Alliance, we are not just “tour operators”. We are educators first and thus we strive to do more than implement a tour - we want to build bridges and change lives. While we do this with every group, every year, we knew there is a next level for those students that want to go further and continue to partner with us. They want to experience new cultures, new landscapes and develop new skills. So, the Service Scholars program was born to bring these “next level” travelers to the next level with humanitarian, science/environment trips to Costa Rica, New York City, the Dominican Republic, Belize, and elsewhere. The result of implementing these kinds of programs are what Mikki, Matt, myself and the staff at EcoMar were observing and I couldn’t be more proud of the students we were with. Wow – awesome – life-changing – pride. And that is not even the half of it.

These 16 students from Montana, Colorado and one student from Pennsylvania (hey Shelby!☺), came together for the first time at the airport and within minutes were already bonding and playing games. Nearly all of them had been on at least one trip with Global Travel Alliance. A few had gone to Costa Rica as a service scholar in the past year or two to build a home for a Costa Rican family in need. The others, well they simply loved the idea of hanging out with this cool shark researcher (i.e. Mikki) and spending five days on a remote Caye in Belize. What can be bad about that - am I right?

During our five days at St. George’s Caye and two nights in the jungle near San Ignacio, we learned about the history and culture of Belize and specifically the significance of St. George’s Caye. We did research on conch’s in the ocean, we learned about and witnessed the difference in diversity, abundance and size of wildlife in marine protected areas versus none protected areas, and more. We swam with sea turtles and learned about Linda Searle’s research on sea turtles. We learned about, swam with, observed and assisted with dolphin and manatee research led by Eric Ramos. And we all became more comfortable swimming, snorkeling and exploring not as just passive visitors but as citizen scientists helping with research in the ocean.

Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, we served others. Our research contributed data to the long term monitoring of Conch’s conducted by EcoMar. We helped Eric get a better understanding of the dolphins and manatees that inhabit the area. And ultimately, the students put all of this new knowledge and experience to work by developing in small groups. Some ideas came up like how stakeholders (i.e. fisherman, tourists, researchers, conservationist) can work together and develop plans to meet the multiple interests of all stakeholders - a community based conservation plan.

Our final two days were spent inland in the hills and jungles of western Belize were we got to experience another side of life in Belize and another landscape full of exotic birds, lush jungle forest and exceptional caves, waterfalls and swimming holes. Our exploration of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) caves and the Mayan ceremonial ruins was, for many, the most challenging part of the trip, and for others the absolute highlight. Who in our group would have ever believed we were caving 1500 meters in and 300 ft underground in these other-wordly caves? I am pretty sure none of us did.

As a result, all of these students were changed. Some more profound than others. Some with deep impactful “aha” moments that provided direction and context for their lives now and into the future. Some realized areas of personal growth, leadership and relationships with peers and others.

These outcomes became apparent on our final night. Mikki and I decided to keep our primary teaching tools limited to the experiences themselves and journaling. After all, what can top learning about coral reefs when you are snorkeling in one of the best reef systems in the world? Giving the kids time to journal allowed them to document their personal experience and for reflection. The day before our final night, we provided a simple journal exercise that would help students reflect on what they have experienced, how it has affected them, and what they are going to do with this experience.


On our final night together, Mikki and I shared our reflections and invited the others to share theirs:

“I am just so inspired by spending time with and observing such passionate people like Mikki, Eric, Paul and the others. I mean, it shows that you can follow your passion and inspires me to do the same.” Ellie

“I had a lot of travel challenges getting here. But, I would do it all again for all of the new friends and relationships I have made here. Not just the students, but the relationships with the researchers, our 12 year-old friend here at the resort, and so many others.” Shelby

“As I get ready for my final year in high school and think about what to study in college, I have kind of been leaning to something in the environmental sciences. This experience has solidified my belief in my career choice and that is what I want to pursue. And, seeing all of these passionate people doing what they love to do, changing the world, but really just so chill and easy to hang out with.” Finn

“Seeing people talk about what they love with fire in their lives solidified my future that I want to help people.” Natalie

“I want to bring this experience to other people.” Abby

“I learned that you do not have to like everything you are doing but if you have the opportunity, do not waste it because it has changed me.” Katie

“I was so caught up in the moment that it was hard to stop and realize everything we are doing, learning, and experiencing. These moments when you asked us to stop and reflect were so important - not everyone gets an opportunity like this and I was not going to miss any of it.” Minica

“I am starting college and know that I want to be an elementary school teacher. But these last two days, when we were walking through the small village seeing the families and kids, hanging out with our 12 year old friend/guide Kevin who took us to his favorite swimming hole and waterfall, I knew in my soul that this is where I need to be - that this is what I want to do.” Rachel

Mikki and I are planning a 2017 trip to Belize and other adventures around the globe together. It is partnerships, a strong belief in what you are doing is important, skills and experience, and good people that what make these programs so special. While this trip for both of us is a pinnacle moment, we both intend and know that it is not the top nor the end. I can’t wait to meet our group for next year and build a few more bridges and change more lives.

As is common in this day and age, I shared some of my pictures using social media. One of my partners, an 8th grade teacher who I work with every year on his trip to Washington, D.C. commented, “You have the best job in the world.” I have to agree! Thank you to the Oceanic Society, Ecomar, Ocean First Institute, my colleagues and friends at Global Travel Alliance and most importantly, to the amazing young men and woman who I travel with for this privilege.


Want to be a Service Scholar? Or know someone who does?
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Click here to email Paul or click here to Get Involved.
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The Leaf Cutter Project gives Costa Rican high school students who live in a rural area the opportunity to learn about rainforest conservation and tourism.

One of the things we do is lead high school students to Costa Rica for a homebuilding or Service Scholars trip. The itinerary might include a day at Liceo Ambientalista, the rural high school where the Leaf Cutter Project was born. The American high school students would be given a tour of the rainforest (on a cool nature trail right behind the high school) and their tour guides are the Costa Rican high school students. Not only does this allow them to preach what they practice (rainforest biology and conservation), but they can also work on their tour guide and English skills. Pretty sweet right? Plus the cafeteria lunch they all eat afterward is seriously delicious. 

That was the first version of LCP. It's time for an upgrade.

​These Costa Rican students are learning more about their local rainforest and learning English, but they want to do more. Daniel Granados runs our Costa Rica programs and he has started a "pay it forward" campaign for them. Read below to see what four of these Leaf Cutters are doing with their new resources, encouragement, knowledge, confidence, and love for their community:
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Student travel to Washington, D.C., adult tours to Europe, service projects in Costa Rica, and so much more. Like we always do, 2015 was a year we used for leading educational trips for groups to Europe, Costa Rica, Washington, D.C., and more. We also continued to grow our Global Doing Good programs and adult group travel opportunities. This Fall 2015 newsletter shows you that we are more than just a travel agency.

Get involved and CLICK HERE TO READ OUR NEWSLETTER

*Want to receive future newsletters in your mail box or email? Contact our editor larry@globaltravelalliance.com and we’ll be happy to take care of that for you.

by J.J. Peterson, Marketing and Communications

This one day when I was in 4th grade I wore all Nike to school. Every item of clothing and my accessories branded the swoosh. I was trying hard to be cool. I'm still trying to be that way today, just like the students on our trips. We wear the latest fashion, we text, snap and tweet on the latest tech, we chug Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino's and listen to new school hip hop via Beats by Dre. On a trip this past March I was reminded that being cool is what we're doing and not how we look doing it.

Every job at Global Travel Alliance is all about people. We are a team of people that provides a service to groups of people so that they can travel and learn about other cultures, places, and people. 8th graders go to Washington, D.C. and follow our American forefather legends. High school students travel to Europe and study famous Renaissance artists. My coworkers, the families we serve, and the interesting people we all meet along the way are why we started Global Doing Good. These people are why we write these stories and post pictures on Instagram. In March I was reminded that Global Doing Good is very cool.

Luis Chavez is a Costa Rican husband and father of six. He is a perfect example of someone who is so unbelievably cool, any words I type can't do his character justice. Ask any of the cool high schoolers from Billings, Montana who spent their spring break with us on a GDG service trip to Costa Rica. They built a home for the Chavez's and if you asked one of them to describe Luis they might tell you about the benches he crafts and sells or the fact that he commutes to work on his bike with a weed whacker slung over his shoulder. However, you would have to shake his hand, give him the keys to his new house, see his beautiful smile, and look into his tear filled eyes with your own to fully comprehend how cool he really is. That week he and those students taught me a lot about a real, non-superficial, humble and joyful way to be cool.

We can show you other families in Costa Rica that our groups build homes for too, like Kattie Arrieta who has no husband, two kids, and a down syndrome grandaughter (who doesn't have a father either). She walks down a dirt road to her job as a high school cafeteria chef and in her free time sculpts paper mache animals. She gave me one glued onto a pen that now stands in my pencil cup at work. It's a very cool pen.

A hip and modern workspace filled with Apple computers and Keurig coffe doesn't make a job cool. Bucket hats, neon tank tops, and knee-high Nike socks don't make an 8th grader cool. Serving, loving and helping others at work, home, and school is cool. Service trips and traveling with a purpose is cool. Studying in an outdoor classroom and actually touching the history, art and science is cool. Filling your passport with stamps and learning another language is cool. Daniel Granados (our Costa Rica Program Director) is cool, his brother-in-law Martin is cool, and his mother-in-law Aura is the coolest of all. Luis Chavez is cool and so is his new house with sturdy walls, concrete floors, plumbing, windows, electricity and an indoor kitchen sink. Students who travel the world and spend time outside, soaked in rain, tired from work, sweaty from heat, and serve a family in need is cool.

To be cool too and learn more about how you can get involved, start here: globaldoinggood.org/get-involved

If your son or daughter is in high school and they want to apply our company values (service, honor, courage and sacrifice), show them our Service Scholars information: globaldoinggood.org/service-scholars

I want to thank the principal, parents, students, and all travelers of the 2015 March Homebuilding trip to Costa Rica who helped make the Chavez family dreams come true.

I remember my first visit to Arlington National Cemetery as a middle school student.  It was life changing and continues to be every time I lead a group there.  To be surrounded by the rows of bright white tombstones in perfect eternal formation and to experience the palpable honor and reverence this place emits is amazing.  8th grade students, normally boisterous and full of energy, grow silent and solemn, overwhelmed by a sense of awe and deep respect.

On these D.C. tours we talk a lot about the expensive cost of freedom and the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. Thanks to them, we can enjoy all of the many freedoms we have in America.  Our country isn't perfect, but we hope that in a place like Arlington students will begin to see the kind of sacrifice and courage it takes to keep our nation moving in the right direction.

Thanks to educational travel, we believe that students will know more about how future efforts and service to their community will help keep our nation strong while holding onto the foundational belief that all people are created equal and have an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, we hope these students see that they have a role to play in serving both at home and throughout the world.  The 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. is only the starting point for future work in communities in which they can both learn and serve.

We are passionate about serving and providing others the opportunity to serve. To learn more about how you can get involved, please visit globaldoinggood.org/get-involved.

by Ryan Sparzak, Lead Educator and Director of Global Doing Good

Not all, but many students travel to Europe during their high school years.  It’s often a catalyst for further exploration and living abroad. When Front Range Christian School (FRCS) requested a trip to Europe, we were quick to come alongside and partner with them, knowing how transformative travelling in Europe can be.

The group leader really only had two expectations.  First, that the students spend time at Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Second, that there must be a service learning component to this year’s practicum trip.  This proved to be an interesting extension to the tours we already do in Europe.  European trips come at a premium, so each day is packed to provide the maximum value for travelers.  The trip plan was met with a little skepticism.  Questions from within our own organization as well as at Front Range began to surface:

What would be the benefit of spending 2-3 days in one location serving while in Europe?

Couldn’t the students fulfill service requirements here in Denver to maximize their time overseas?

Is this a European history/culture trip or a service trip?

All reasonable questions, but upon reflection it ended up being one of the most impactful trips Global Travel Alliance has offered and most in line with our new emphasis on service learning.

Hearing our guide and teammate Brian Mathis unpack years of European and religious history in places like the Old City in Krakow, the Charles Bridge in Prague, and Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria did not disappoint (especially if we were all enjoying a Bavarian pretzel or some gelato). Nor did the powerful experience of visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau (check out my blog post on our time there, or some of the students reflections).  But the learning and the context took on new meaning for the students when we arrived at the service location in Kroegis, Germany.

The Steiger team welcomed us with open arms.  It was in our interactions with them that the we began to understand how deep the effects of this massive application of communism went, and the importance of the work we would be doing over the next couple of days. The Steiger International facility here was once a farm co-op under communism and when the wall fell, laborers literally left their posts and never came back.  The buildings were already shoddily built, but to then be completely unmaintained furthered the dilapidation.

Steiger Kroegis is a training facility for those working youth in the arts community.  Within this subset of people, especially in Eastern Europe, there are high rates of unemployment, suicide, alcoholism, and drug abuse.  Steiger works to combat this hopelessness.  Our work would be preparing the facility for the yearly summer training for individuals working with Steiger from all over the world.

As our bodies recovered from the scrubbing, heavy lifting, and shoveling we shared daily meals and conversations with the Steiger staff that had left their homes in the U.S., Ukraine, Poland, and Holland to live devoted to Steiger’s mission.  Here were individuals and families that were living out a Radical, fully alive lifestyle, but actually seemed pretty normal.  Our temporary discomfort paled in comparison to their service and sacrifice, yet it encouraged them and linked us to their work throughout the world.

It is tempting to overemphasize the service experience and say it was “the highlight.”  Some could argue that the German sausage and gelato was at the top of the list.  However, many of the students walked away with a deeper appreciation for what it means to serve, and stronger frameworks to help them understand the concepts and images they learn and see in the classroom.  Realistically, all aspects of the trip worked together to create a shared learning experience for us all that was, well, radical.

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Check out the itinerary here (we did make a few tweeks).

Watch the video summary of the trip here (our Polish driver played this song at least 30 times).

Check out my blog post on my experience at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Are you a motivated high school student leader who wants to make a difference and experience life-changing academic service opportunities? Perfect. CLICK HERE.

Global Doing Good is the newest member of the Global Travel Alliance student and educational group travel programs. Yes, we lead middle school student trips to Washington, D.C. through our American Heritage program. Yes, we guide science student travel to Costa Rica and other academic Gtrek destinations. But wait! Now there's more.

Yes, we created the Service Scholars program which provides educational experiences for exceptional students who are ready to learn what serving and leading are all about. Various destinations are offered during the summer for students that are seeking to expand their high school learning experience through service projects in unique locations focused on tackling some of the worlds biggest problems.

As a Service Scholar, students will have the opportunity in 2015 to travel to Montana, the Pacific Northwest, New York City, or Costa Rica. You can learn more about pricing, travel dates, and tentative itineraries by clicking here.

Apply OnlineWe've made the Service Scholars application a breeze - follow this link to the Global Doing Good website, fill out on the online application form as best as you can, and wait to hear from us.

Other information about Global Doing Good and the Service Scholars program can be found at globaldoinggood.org