Twenty-two students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Class of 2014 along with three chaperones traveled to Japan in June 2013 as part of the Kakehashi Project — a 10-day cultural exchange program sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan.
A decade later, more than 500 members of the school’s community of learning have traveled the world as part of its Global Learning Program — establishing studying abroad as a central component of the ASMSA experience.
More than 430 students have traveled abroad through the Global Learning Program, various government language and cultural exchange programs, and the Hot Springs Sister City program. Beginning in 2014, the program expanded to other destinations including Italy, China, England, Costa Rica, Greece and Spain. Trips to Japan, Ireland, Belize and Quebec City, Canada, are set for this academic year.
Traveling abroad on a learning trip offers students an educational experience that they can’t receive in a classroom, said Ron Luckow, an Instructor of Excellence in humanities and the founding coordinator for the Global Learning Program.
“Through experiential learning, the students learn firsthand about another country and its culture,” Luckow said. “The students get to go there and physically interact with that culture. The students also learn how to travel abroad safely and efficiently.”
The trips help students gain a new perspective, develop global awareness and enhance critical thinking skills, he said.
Dr. Dan Kostopulos, an Instructor of Excellence in humanities who serves as the current Global Learning Program coordinator, said such trips are important because travel spurs personal growth.
“When we travel somewhere for the first time, it changes us and affects the way we see things. Travel can also be intimidating and induce a bit of anxiety, but it can also reassure us that we can do this and be just fine. I think travel gives students confidence and shows them glimpses of the world that they might not have encountered before,” he said.
An added advantage to the program is ASMSA students get to study abroad much earlier than other students who may not get to participate in such a program until their junior or senior year of college, Kostopulos said.
To help students better afford to participate in the program, ASMSA provides a $750 grant to be applied to the costs for travel. Some students qualify for a scholarship that covers the full cost of travel other than incidentals. Kostopulos said helping make the trip possible for students who would not otherwise be able to afford the cost of participation is vital to the program’s success.
“Student travel should be equitable, yet, like so many educational experiences, it’s often hard to make it so. But at ASMSA, by offering the $750 grant, it puts a trip nearer to them by reducing the cost. They could be one summer job away from paying for their trip,” Kostopulos said.
“Likewise, for our students who receive scholarships, travel abroad normally would be out of the question for them and their families. The scholarship means that every year eight to ten kids who wouldn’t get to travel will do so because ASMSA has made it happen. Both of these factors go a long way in explaining why participation and enthusiasm is high among our students.”
For many of the students, it likely is the first time they may have traveled abroad, but the trips can have many other firsts as well, Luckow said. “I have seen several of our students who have never even flown on a plane before.”
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When the students return home, they have changed in the short period they have been gone, he said.
“It is remarkable to me how much more mature and sophisticated our students become after participating in one of these educational trips,” Luckow said. “The students often tell me about some site they had seen, some food they had eaten or some people they had met while on the trip that enhanced their knowledge and understanding of that country and its culture. Watching these students gain a new perspective and develop global awareness has been exciting for me as an educator.”
The trips also allow the students to create stronger connections with each other, Kostopulos said. They get to experience someplace iconic and different with their friends and peers.
“Nearly everything they go through, whether its walking to the Parthenon or a sunset in Hawaii, they share together, and that’s a great bond to share with someone even after ASMSA is over for them. I think the most important thing students say to me is that they can’t wait to travel abroad again and experience someplace new for the first time,” he said.
While the student participants are the main benefactors of the program, it’s also a learning and growing opportunity for the faculty and staff members who serve as planner, facilitators and chaperones. Luckow said the trips enhance faculty members’ global awareness and knowledge of cultural diversity, which can be applied to the classroom.
Kostopulos said the benefit for the chaperones is two-fold. Some of them haven’t had the opportunity to travel much either, and these trips help them go places the might not normally go on their own. The other is the chance to see how the students change.
“I think the most important thing is that it’s yet another way to see our students’ growth and change that we already see so much of in the two to three years that they are at ASMSA,” he said.
Both educators said the Global Learning Program helps make ASMSA the institution it is.
“It is one of the most singular parts of the ASMSA experience, and I hope Global Learning will be able to grow and include even more opportunities to travel for students in the coming years,” Kostopulos said.
“There are very few public high schools in the nation that offer a travel abroad program like this,” Luckow said. “I’m not aware of any other public high school in Arkansas that offers financial support for students to participate in educational travel abroad. ASMSA is truly a gem in this respect.”