Rancho Santa Fe students among those participating in Pacific Ridge School’s global service program

Colton Bancroft and Lindsey Sanderson of Rancho Santa Fe are two of more than 480 Pacific Ridge School students and staff who spent the past few weeks experiencing academic, service learning, and cultural experiences around the world.

During the school’s year-end global travel period, students in grades 7 through 10 travel on class trips to the Santa Monica Mountains (7th grade), Williamsburg (8th grade), China (9th grade) and the Northern Sierras (10th grade). Juniors and seniors have the option of choosing from one of many school-designed trips or designing their own year-end trips or internships.

Bancroft, a junior at Pacific Ridge, elected to join classmates on a school-designed trip to Cambodia, where they built and installed water filtration systems for a local village, and taught English at a school for orphaned or disadvantaged children. Students also had the opportunity to explore the country’s local markets, tour the Siem Reap war museum, and visit Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temple at sunrise.

Sanderson, also a Pacific Ridge junior, traveled with a group to El Salvador, where she worked with children in the Angeles Descalsos (Barefoot Angels) Urban Youth Program. Students spent their days organizing activities for the children that included English lessons, crafts, and games. The group also had a chance to explore the countryside through visits to rural villages, a zipline tour over the Apeneca Canopy, and a boat ride around scenic Lake Coatepeque.

Bancroft and Sanderson weren’t the only Rancho Santa Fe residents to take part in Pacific Ridge School’s global travel program. Many students from the community participated in class trips and school-designed offerings, including an ecological exploration of Costa Rica’s cloud forests, a culture- and diplomacy-focused trip to Israel and the West Bank, an exploration of India’s vibrant culture, an outdoor adventure in New Zealand, and many more.

“Global engagement is a key piece of our mission, and is reflected in every aspect of our curriculum,” said Head of School Dr. Bob Ogle. “The year-end global travel period gives students the opportunity to take their learning beyond the classroom walls.”