Spotlight: AFAR Foundation, the Pearson Foundation, and Schlumberger

In 2009 Global Explorers began a partnership with the AFAR Foundation to decrease barriers to travel for low-income high school students. The result? Learning AFAR—a program that in its first year engaged 20 students and two educators from New York City and Oakland, CA in exciting, experiential learning focused on responsible global citizenship, the highlight of which was an expedition to Costa Rica.

The partnership is a natural fit for two organizations that share very similar missions. AFAR is devoted to experiential travel, which connects individuals with the authentic essence of a place and its people, deepening individuals’ understanding of the world, its cultures, and themselves. Global Explorers’ mission is to inspire responsible global citizenship by providing life-changing travel experiences for students and educators of all abilities and backgrounds.

The inaugural Learning AFAR travelers returned home with wonderful stories and new ideas about the world and their place within it. The program was a great success.

However, both AFAR and GEx dreamed of building a platform where other interested organizations and individuals could help to provide travel scholarships to youth who would not otherwise be able to explore our world.

In 2010 this dream came to fruition when the Pearson Foundation and Schlumberger joined the Learning AFAR team as sponsors of programming in Chicago and Houston.

This past summer, Manuel Sanchez, Senior Counsel for Global Strategic Contracts & Transactions at Schlumberger, had the opportunity to experience Learning AFAR first-hand when he joined the Houston expedition in the Peruvian Amazon. Manuel and a team of volunteers introduced Schlumberger’s SEED curriculum to the travelers via the importance of understanding global water quality. SEED (Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development) has a vision to ignite passion for science and learning in youth and empower them to use knowledge and technology creatively to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Together, students from Houston worked alongside students from Iquitos, Peru, to test the water quality of the Amazon River.

Check out Manuel’s recent blog post on PlanetSEED, in which he reflects on the expedition and the importance of supplementing learning outside the classroom.
  
Global Explorers and the AFAR Foundation are extremely grateful to both the Pearson Foundation and Schlumberger because these sponsors not only gave financially, but also authentically engaged their teams’ expertise to enhance the educational quality of the program.

If you are interested in bringing Learning AFAR to your school or becoming part of the team supporting Learning AFAR, please visit our program page. Together we can help develop the next generation of responsible global citizens!