Experience
Academic Treks is the academic adventure and community service division of Broadreach Summer Adventures. Together over the past 16 years, we have taken over 7,000 teenagers on hundreds of trips to every corner of the world. Our experience gives us a keen understanding of the challenges and complexities of successful planning, scouting and operating programs abroad. We have the critical know-how and skills to make our educational expeditions exceptional.
Course Design
We believe strongly in the value of experiential education, community service and the benefits that come from hands-on learning within a field of study. Our courses are carefully designed to achieve our primary objectives: real world educational experience, cultural awareness, environmental stewardship, personal growth, fun and exploration of our world. AT programs provide opportunities for individuals to learn, grow and gain insights in ways not possible in a traditional classroom setting.
Our Approach to Learning
Our interdisciplinary approach to education combines the best of academic, experiential and service learning while taking students out of the classroom and into real world environments. To maximize the experience, we intertwine our studies with practical applications in the natural environments and cultural framework of the places we travel. Our goal is to make education interesting, inspiring, challenging and fun.
College Credit
Academic Treks benefits from a special partnership with Lesley University. The course design, academic focus and high quality of AT’s programs allow our students to earn up to three academic college credits through Lesley University.
Strengthen Your College Applications
AT students earn academic college credit and community service hours while developing skills and knowledge that will be invaluable both in college and beyond. They also add an extraordinary journey to their life experiences and demonstrate a commitment to learning and community service that sets them apart from other applicants in the competitive college application process.
Community Service
While making a real contribution to the communities we visit, service work provides rich opportunities for learning, personal growth and cultural understanding. Projects are carefully chosen to complement the program focus and range from Habitat for Humanity work to marine research to working at orphanages. Our students often tell us that the service work was the most meaningful and rewarding part of their trip, offering them remarkable perspectives on other people and places, as well as their role in the world.
Our Knowledgeable Staff
Our instructors are hired for their expertise in their particular field and their genuine enthusiasm for teaching, volunteer work and working with young adults. With two instructors on each trip, plus the in-country educators and guides, the student to staff ratio is very low. See Our Staff for more information on our staff, their qualifications and our intensive staff training.
Safety
Although no company can guarantee safety, we are proud of our excellent safety record. Our comprehensive risk management plans, thorough scouting and planning, intensive staff training and years of experience in running programs abroad allow us to focus on a high level of safety that many high school and college trips cannot.
Small Groups
Each group is limited to 9-12 participants. This group size promotes a highly supportive, non-competitive atmosphere that allows each person to be an integral part of the team and adventure. The flexibility permitted by traveling in a small group allows us to take advantage of more opportunities and gives us the ability to accommodate the different goals and dynamics of each group.
Program Locations
We've chosen some of the world’s most spectacular natural environments and cultures for our adventure classrooms. Trip locations are chosen for their optimal mix of educational, cultural, service and adventure opportunities and are off the beaten path.
Our Participants
Broadreachers come from 50 states and 30 countries, with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, but they all share a desire to have an exceptional summer by doing something different. Our pre-program conversations, questionnaires and correspondence help us build groups that are eager for and motivated to make the most of their adventure.
Cultural Exchange
AT programs provide rare opportunities to truly experience different cultures. By working and living alongside locals in foreign countries, our participants receive a level of cultural education that cannot be gained in any other way. On our language immersion courses, home-stays are part of the program design.
Fun, Adventure and Personal Growth
AT courses are not only designed to be highly educational, but also exciting and fun. We balance learning, community service and hands-on experience with adventure and travel, and our students have a blast together exploring the corners of our world. Living in small groups, traveling in foreign lands and taking on unique challenges provide opportunities for introspection and laughter, hard work and open adventure, personal growth and lifelong friendships.
