Summer Camps & Programs

Program Description

World Horizons International

Service and Arts Programs
Costa Rica; Ecuador; England; English-speaking Caribbean island of Dominica; Fiji; Iceland; Italy; Kanab, Utah (in conjunction with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary); Watkins Glen, New York (in conjunction with the Farm Animal Sanctuary)

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For More Information, Contact
World Horizons International, LLC.
P.O. Box 662
Bethlehem, Connecticut 06751
203-266-5874
800-262-5874 (toll-free)
Fax: 203-266-6227
http://www.world-horizons.com
E-mail: worldhorizons@att.net

Type of Program: Community service, cross-cultural exchange, intercultural language and learning, and photography
Participants: Coeducational programs for high school students, college students, adults, and families
Enrollment: 8–12 students per group, under the supervision of 2 adult leaders
Program Dates: Two- to five-week sessions beginning in the end of June, spring-break trips, Christmas break trips, and more
Head of Program: Stuart L. Rabinowitz, Director

Location

World Horizons International, LLC, offers programs for Spanish-speaking students in Costa Rica and Ecuador. In addition, there are also intercultural travel-learning programs that involve work at an environmental program in Iceland; helping at a handicapped riding center in Rome, Italy; a program working with animals at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah; and a Farm Animal Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. Participants can choose to work in small-village settings in Fiji, in Nokoru Kulu on the island of Viti Levu, or in Dominica, an English-speaking island in the Caribbean. A photography trip is also offered to England and Iceland as well as to Italy during winter break.

Background and Philosophy

World Horizons International is an organization founded in 1987 by a former Peace Corps administrator to sponsor programs for students interested in cross-cultural community service. From her nineteen years of working in the international field, she established, developed, and ran summer programs in the Caribbean and Central America that provided volunteer opportunities for thousands of high school students. In 1988, World Horizons started with projects in Alaska, Central America, and English-speaking islands in the Caribbean. Now, after twenty-one years, a very strong World Horizons presence has continued in these areas and also in Iceland, Italy, and additional domestic locations around the U.S. In addition, World Horizons has added visual arts trips and camps to round out the program offerings.
    World Horizons, under the leadership of Stuart L. Rabinowitz since 2001, continues to offer cross-cultural community service opportunities for teenage participants who wish to expand their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live. In addition, new photographic tours and instruction are taught by Rabinowitz, a professional photographer for more than thirty years.
    Every aspect of the World Horizons program is designed to enable each participant to enter into the life and culture of the local community. The immediate rewards of a summer with World Horizons come from the relationships that students build with people from the local community and other members of their World Horizons group and from the success of the community service involvement. One student on the program to Central America described her experience as “having assisted me in redirecting my academic concentrations and also helping me to transform my thoughts and feelings on life in general. World Horizons allows one to see what is really important in life.” Another student who went on a program to Ecuador remarked, “I returned with a different perspective of myself and American society. I brought home the knowledge that happiness does not rely on material possessions as our society seems to indicate, but rather it relies on the love we share with friends and families.”

Program Offerings

World Horizons volunteers live, work, and travel in groups of 8 to 12 students led by 2 highly qualified World Horizons staff members. Local representatives arrange housing for the group to live together in a local home, school, or community facility; the organization does not offer homestays. On community service trips, participants spend part of each day on a group project identified by the local host organization. These involvements might find the student painting and repairing homes of senior citizens; teaching arts and crafts, dance, music, or sports to children in a day-camp setting; or building a school, medical clinic, or community hall. On a continuation of the concept of community service, a portion of the afternoon may be devoted to an individual internship program, selected by the student when possible. These are unique involvements that are focused on learning more about the local people and their culture. Individual internships that former World Horizons volunteers have chosen include tutoring children, participating in an environmental awareness program, assisting a local physician, hosting a call-in radio show, helping in a dairy, and working in a fishery that cultivates giant clams and exotic fish. Individual internships are available in Costa Rica and Dominica and may possibly be available in other locations also.
Caribbean The community service offering on the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean involves the painting and repair of homes of senior citizens, painting murals on classroom walls, working with preschools and day-care centers, helping at a small orphanage, and assisting with local environmental issues. Individual internships are varied and interesting, and weekends are set aside for expeditions to nearby islands, hiking in the countryside, enjoying the local beaches, sightseeing, or taking part in festivals, such as Carnival, or regatta boat races.
Costa Rica The World Horizons program in Costa Rica is designed to improve Spanish-speaking skills through cultural immersion. The site, about 3 hours south of San Jose, is in the region of San Ignacio de Acosta, which is popular with World Horizons volunteers who want to participate in community service and, at the same time, use their Spanish skills within the total immersion of a small Central American village. Participants work alongside local counterparts in painting homes and schools and refurbishing community facilities. In addition, they establish a day camp for children and have the opportunity to teach activities such as sports, arts and crafts, dance, and music. Afternoon internships are unique and diversified and may include picking coffee beans on a coffee plantation, assisting at the local health center, tutoring at an orphanage, working with the elderly, writing for the local newspaper, or learning the art of Costa Rican cooking in a local restaurant.
    An alternative in Costa Rica is working in conjunction with the “Global Classroom.” This environmental program involves working in the rainforest and helping with a reforestation project.
Ecuador The World Horizons program in Ecuador is located in the beautiful northern part of Ecuador, in the town of Cayambe, with a population of approximately 30,000. World Horizons participants go into the native Ecuadorian schools in the Andes Mountains to help teach the children, run activities and sports programs for the children, do repairs on the local schools, and participate in individual internships in Cayambe, which may include working in an orphanage, a local store, pharmacy, doctor’s office, or health clinic. On weekends the students have the opportunity to visit a local market in Otavalo, take sightseeing trips to other areas of Ecuador, and hike up “El Cayambe” to historic Inca ruins.
England and Iceland (photography instruction) Stuart L. Rabinowitz, a professional photographer since 1976, takes students on a tour of fascinating sites in the north of England and Iceland. There is photography instruction, and students have the opportunity to use some large-format photographic equipment. The sites included are York, Howarth (where the Bronte sisters lived), Knaresborough, Robin Hood’s Bay, and London. Then the students move on to Reykjavik to photograph Gulfoss, glaciers, and the fantastic landscape of Iceland.
Fiji Participants work in conjunction with the senior education officer on the island of Viti Levu. Located in the village of Nokoru Kulu, students work with the children of the area—teaching in the schools, tutoring, and running day camp activities. They also do painting and building projects for the people of the village. Weekends are spent seeing the sights of Fiji—waterfalls and the capital, Suva—and in activities such as snorkeling and swimming.
Iceland: The Land of the Midnight Sun Summers in Iceland are light and promote nightlife with coffee houses and plenty of recreational facilities, including whale watching and the “swimming pool and steam bath culture” of the north. The group is based in the capital city of Reykjavik and spends the working day planting trees in the government-sponsored reforestation project. At night there is lots of fun in the High North. This area is famous for its geothermals and accompanying horticulture. Internships may include working at the horticultural college and also with horticultural businesses in the region. The highlight of the trip is a two-day horse trek into the interior to see more beautiful and unusual scenery.
Italy Located in the heart of Italy, this group works with a local riding-for-handicapped program outside Rome. Students involved with this program spot handicapped riders, lead horses, repair the facilities, learn horse care, and help with the daily needs of the organization and its clients.
New York Working with the staff at the Farm Animal Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, participants work with abused and rescued farm animals, including cows, goats, and pigs.
Utah Working in conjunction with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, participants work alongside staff members in the daily care of the animals, many of which have been abused or abandoned. The group helps to feed, exercise, observe behavior, and work with animals with special needs. At any given time, there are more than 1,500 dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, goats, horses, and burros that have to be nursed back to health and are craving TLC. Weekend trips may include hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and visits to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Lake Powell, and Bryce Canyon.

Staff

Leaders are most often teachers and Peace Corps returnees with extensive experience working with students in teenage-related programs. Many have worked, lived, and traveled abroad as Peace Corps volunteers. Assistant leaders are at least juniors in college. In addition, a facilitator from the local community assists with the programs.

Costs

The all-inclusive fees for the 2008 programs, including roundtrip airfare from the departure point, ranged from $2550 to $5450.

Financial Aid

World Horizons has limited scholarship assistance to students with financial need. Individual fund-raising information is also available on request.

Transportation

Programs begin with students departing as a group from New York, Miami, and Los Angeles area airports on regularly scheduled flights.

Application Timetable

World Horizons accepts applications year-round. Enrollment is limited, so participants are encouraged to apply as early as possible to secure a spot in the program of their choice. Students are required to complete an application and supply the names of two references, a teacher, and their guidance counselor or adviser. A decision is made within two weeks of receiving a completed application. Some programs have deadlines for applying, so students should check each particular program for deadlines.