Learning Through Service: Cementing Local Knowledge Through Giving Back
- Service learning programs offer a unique opportunity for in-depth immersion into a community through cultural exchange and honest conversations.
- Road Scholar’s service learning programs extend across North and Central America, from Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia to Navajo Nation in Arizona to Trinidad and Tobago.
- These programs impact both local communities and participants, so much so that many participants find themselves returning to a program to continue volunteering and learning.
Through Road Scholar’s service learning programs, participants across the globe support local communities while gaining hands-on insight into culture, history and the environment. One such program takes place on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, where Road Scholars partner with the Museum of Chincoteague Island and learn about the nearby Assateague National Seashore. “We would not be where we are now without Road Scholar,” says Cindy Faith, executive director of the museum.
On this learning adventure, Road Scholars step into the story of Misty of Chincoteague, the beloved children’s novel that helped make the island’s wild ponies famous, and work to help preserve Virginia’s barrier island and the habitats of those ponies today. Through beach clean-ups, sign painting, museum maintenance and additional tasks, participants play an active role in maintaining this island classroom while learning about its ecosystems and the people who live and work there. As Road Scholar Petra noted, “I learned a lot and felt I was able to complete a few projects that, while small, were important.”
Experiences like those on Chincoteague are at the heart of Road Scholar’s service learning programs — hands-on, community-based opportunities rooted in place. While the settings change from one destination to the next, each adventure invites participants to learn by doing, adapting their focus to meet the needs, cultures and environments of the communities they visit.
An instructor at the Chincoteague Bay Field Station.
Guatemala
On this service learning adventure in Central America, participants engage in a rich cultural exchange shaped by time spent in local schools. After spending mornings practicing English with schoolchildren, Road Scholars carry those conversations and connections into their afternoons, exploring Quetzaltenango and its surrounding communities through markets, churches and everyday encounters that bring local life into sharper focus.
Trinidad and Tobago
Farther east in the Caribbean lies the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, where Road Scholars can get an inside look at the conservation work underway to support tropical ecosystems. Volunteers “play” in the dirt at Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project’s nursery, where they learn more about the community-based organization’s approach to fire prevention, reforestation and education. Opportunities for involvement continue with a field trip to Nature Seekers, an additional community-based group dedicated to conservation, and particularly to protecting the leatherback sea turtles who nest on the beaches.
Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala.
Time & Time Again
Cindy Faith remarked that, “The real success is how many people come back again and again, some upwards of five times, because there’s always something new to discover.” As experiences on Chincoteague and beyond show, service learning offers not just a single opportunity to give back, but an invitation to return with deeper understanding, renewed purpose and a growing connection to the communities Road Scholars serve.
Ready for a truly immersive learning and volunteering experience? Explore our collection of service learning adventures!
