These trips become a powerful experience of personal growth. Students confront fears they didn’t know they had, whether it’s speaking a new language, asking difficult questions, or navigating emotionally challenging conversations around justice, inequality, or history. They grow up a little. Sometimes a lot. And in the process, they learn about themselves — how they respond to discomfort, what truly matters to them, and how they want to show up in the world as human beings.

It’s not just academic learning that happens on these trips. There’s a different kind of education that comes from standing in a place so different from what you know and allowing yourself to be changed by it. There’s laughter, awe, connection, and sometimes tears. The experience becomes a shared adventure — a rollercoaster of emotions that, by the end, has united the class in a way no classroom ever could.

I strongly believe every student should have the chance to see the world beyond the walls of their university — through immersion in a place and culture with something to teach. Guatemala does that, every time.

It’s messy, beautiful, challenging, and unforgettable. And that’s exactly why we keep coming back.