Menlo Abroad offers transformative experiences through guided immersive travel in the global south. Emphasizing relationship-building through homestay and community engagement, students develop knowledge, skills, and a greater understanding of themselves and their world. They emerge with a renewed sense of purpose and a desire to serve. This year we are offering a trip to Costa Rica in Central America from May 22-June 11.

MTerm’s Borderlands program consists of three one-week domestic travel options to the Southwestern United States to study Indigenous America, the border wall, immigration, and a host of related issues. Led by Menlo faculty, small cohorts of students journey to one of three destinations in the southwest: El Paso, Texas, to study immigration; Northern Arizona, to study the Navajo; or Southern Arizona, to study sustainability. Each of these courses combines time on campus before travel for preparation (May 18-19), and project-based post-trip follow up (May 31-June 2) with one week of travel (May 22-30), during which students, learning from their direct experience, connect with diverse groups of people and engage in service-oriented activities. In these transformative—and fun—MTerm courses, students develop global competency and a sense of larger purposes while fostering connections with distant peoples and communities. 

View the trip brochures below for details. 

• Costa Rica
• El Paso, Texas
• Northern Arizona
• Southern Arizona

Applications for all travel programs are due January 24, 2023, by 3:00 pm. Space is limited. Enrollment priority is based on seniority, and criteria for acceptance include the student’s physical and emotional fitness for travel. While students in grades 9-11 are welcome to apply, please keep in mind that last year due to overwhelming interest—likely spurred by the two-year COVID hiatus of our travel programs—enrollment in our travel programs was limited to current 10th and 11th graders. We have enrolled freshman participants in years past, and anticipate there will be space this year, but it will depend on student interest. Financial aid recipients may be eligible for financial aid and should contact Rose Garza for details. For those students selected for the program, there will be a mandatory parent meeting on the evening of April 25. If you have questions, please contact Peter Brown.