A study abroad scholarship program, offered through one of America's oldest non-profits, is expanding in New England.
Toluwalope Moses and Jack Connolly, students at Boston Latin School, spent a month in Spain last summer, living with a host family and getting an off-the-beaten-path experience.
"I wasn't a tourist," said Jack, a senior. "I got to see what it was really like to be a Spaniard and what daily life is really like."
The students' time in Madrid was funded by CIEE, the Council on International Education Exchange, a non-profit study abroad organization. Last year, Boston Latin participated as a pilot school in CIEE's Global Navigator Scholarship program, which gives high schoolers financial aid to study in 23 places across the globe, including Bonaire, Costa Rica, and China.
NECN covered that pilot program last spring.
"The root of the program is to help students navigate languages, connect with cultures, engage in global issues," said Matt Redman, Vice President of the Global Navigator Program.
Redman says the heart of the mission is helping students and schools understand how life-changing an academically focused travel experience can be.
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"We're really looking to make sure that this becomes a part of the culture of the schools where we're working," Redman said.
Its early success has the Global Navigator Scholarship program expanding to four more Massachusetts high schools this year: Brookline, Framingham, Milton, and Sharon.
"Going for, you know, a vacation for 10 days or two weeks is good. It's a good flavor. But to go and become a little more immersed, for three weeks or four weeks, is very very beneficial," said Zach Smith, Director of the Clough Center for Global Understanding at Boston Latin.
"The feedback is phenomenal. Language teachers have given us testimonials that their students have skipped entire levels after just a month abroad in the summertime," said Redman.
For students like Jack and Tolu, it has opened their eyes to a whole world beyond America's borders.
"Traveling abroad, it's scary, but you definitely grow in ways maybe you didn't expect yourself to grow in," Tolu, a sophomore, said.
"It was a life-changing experience that I hope I'll carry with me my entire life," said Jack. "And I know that coming back from Spain, I didn't come home whole. I left a part of me over in Spain, I feel like."
In addition to the five Massachusetts high schools, Deering High School in Portland, Maine, also participates in the Global Navigator Scholarship program. Scholarships range from 10 to 100 percent of the tuition cost and are awarded based on financial need and merit. For more information visit www.ciee.org/
