Bright Light Volunteers

As an educator, I have been on dozens of educational trips with high school students. None have come close to the level of immersion we experienced with Bright Light Volunteers in Cuba this summer. Living in the casas with families and eating the food they have prepared gave us a more authentic day to day experience than staying in hotels and eating in paladares or government owned restaurants. Even the activities we enjoyed were immersive! For example, we played a baseball game with locals in a corn field and rode of carts to a tobacco farm where we had a pig roast waiting for us. This is next level student travel! Working on the organic farm in Viñales was the most rewarding and educational part of the trip. We were able to fully participate in the operations of the farm and learn the careful ecosystem that makes it possible to maintain that many acres without heavy machinery. The students came to understand their way of life in very tangible ways and appreciated the country more because of it. The students were enrolled with Bethel University's Global Leadership program which gave them the information and tools to better understand the context we would be living in while there. I was impressed with how much some of the students understood the historical importance of a particular place or the reasons for places being named world heritage sites. This is the kind of understanding all educators hope for their students, but rarely experience in an eight day learning adventure. The quality of the leadership from professor Stacie Freeman was incomparable, as she is extremely well informed and quickly adjusts and adapts to the changing scenarios of leading large groups. Bright Light Volunteers planned every event and activity and paid for everything except incidentals like a coffee or soda in a bar. We were so well cared for that many students wanted to bring presents for the houses and leave tips for our guides. It is truly the best trip I have ever been on in 15 years of travel with kids. There are a lot of companies that offer student travel, but few are this good!

I've participated in Bright Light trips in Asia and Latin America. The service programs were well thought out and emphasized working with local communities to create projects that were both relevant and sustainable. Bright Light Volunteers works closely with educators to design tailored programs to meet their needs and align service programs and cultural activities with what is being covered in the classroom. I had the opportunity to travel internationally as a teen, and as an adult it is exciting to see the positive impact these trips have on the students fortunate enough to participate.

I was a part of a trip to Cambodia with Bright Light Volunteers in the fall of 2014 and it was a life changing experience. The Bright Light staff did a phenomenal job educating us about the culture, religion, and lifestyle aspects of Cambodia before we went so we felt comfortable, and excited, to be traveling to this foreign land. While in Cambodia, all of the Bright Light leaders worked very hard to make the trip inspirational and educational, while also making it one of the most fun experiences of my life. All in all it is very easy to give them five out of five stars and I highly recommend using Bright Light volunteers for your next service trip.

Bright Light Volunteers has made a tremendous difference in my students' lives. We have participated in service trips to Cambodia, Peru, and Cuba and are about to travel to Greece. The sustainable work we do in these countries has made a lasting impact on the communities and my students have been inspired in endless ways. Bright Light Volunteers is unique in their mission to teach students about culture through meaningful service work. It is through these service trips that we have truly made the world a brighter place.

I have had the pleasure of participating in two volunteer opportunities with Bright Light Volunteers, and am attending a third in a few weeks! I can't put into words how incredible the experience is, especially given the attention to detail and planning that they put into their opportunities. Both of my trips (Cambodia and Peru) were amazing cultural experiences, and Greece in a few weeks promises to be equally as enriching. Highly recommended for any school group!