Students Travel to Ecuador For Learning Project

NEWBURGH – Students from the Newburgh Free Academy North Campus Excelsior Academy set out to change the world recently as they embarked on a trip to Ecuador. Earlier in the school year, The Foundation for Leadership and Youth Travel Education (FLYTE) announced a partnership with Excelsior Academy’s Global to Local. In an effort to support Newburgh students as they build leadership skills to become positive change agents in the community, FLYTE provided up to $35,000 of funding and travel support for fifteen students and five chaperones from the Newburgh Enlarged City School District to travel to Quito, Ecuador to engage in a global service learning project.

During their ten day stay, students will volunteer at Casa Victoria, a grassroots community organization which provides after school academic support and hot meals for at-risk youth. In addition to supporting the library, teaching basic robotics, and working on a site-based project, students from Excelsior Academy will also engage with a leadership curriculum, so that when they return to Newburgh, they are better equipped to act as project managers for their entire grade during Community Impact Projects. They will also visit the Amazon rainforest, travel to El Mitad del Mundo at the Equator and visit the home and museum of Ecuadorian artist and human rights activist, Oswaldo Guayasamin.