Jessica Diaz returned for her senior year at Alaska Pacific University excited about a month she spent as a volunteer in El Salvador and looking for opportunities to share that experience with other APU students.

When Jessica approached APU Professor Erik Nielsen about organizing a block travel study class to El Salvador, Nielsen was already making plans to take a group of environmental science students to Central America. The two quickly agreed on El Salvador since Nielsen had spent five years in Central America, three years with the Peace Corps in Honduras, and two years studying in Honduras and Guatemala as a Fulbright Scholar. Jessica proposed that her Environmental Science Senior Project "would help to design the course and explore its effects on students of Alaska Pacific University." This senior project brought Jessica back to El Salvador, the country her family fled because of war when she was only three years old. Her mother brought her from El Salvador to Los Angeles, California where she lived until coming to Alaska Pacific University as a Gates Millennium scholar recipeint.

Professor Nielsen's goal was to introduce the students to "conservation from a developing country's perspective; to show how human needs and conservation meet head to head; and to demonstrate how social and economic issues are critical to making sustainable development and environmental conservation work." Jessica's purpose was to "…to evaluate the students' attitudes, values, and reflections that emerged from having taken this class and [and to determine] if travel study is a worthy venture in terms of knowledge gained."

During the May block, Jessica, Professor Nielsen and nine other APU students spent 22 days traveling in El Salvador. They engaged in service learning such as helping to dig a trench so that a community could lay water pipes, building trails and bridges in a National Park, and working on an organic farm. They studied sustainable development concepts, protected area management and organic farming, including a visit to a coffee cooperative arranged by a Peace Corps volunteer. "We not only got a tour of the complete coffee process but also got to meet with one of the many coffee growers in the area," Jessica said. Students were amazed with the environmental and economic challenges of small scale coffee production. They interacted with a variety of El Salvadoran organizations including La Universidad Tecnologica Latinoamerican (Technological University, Latin-American) where they were able to visit the laboratories and collections, an organic farm, and conduct water quality monitoring. They also visited a number of non-governmental (NGO) sustainable development organizations.

The group stayed at NGO training centers, community Eco-tourism facilities and a variety of lodges. They often took their meals with local families and even helped in the kitchen on occasion. They also visited with Jessica's family members still living in El Salvador. In a short period of time the Alaska Pacific students gained awareness about critical differences in conservation challenges and practices in developing countries as compared to the United States. They were exposed to a cultural attitudes and beliefs different from their own in many ways. Students were also able to examine their role as global citizens in the conservation and development challenges of El Salvador.

Jessica evaluated the impact of travel to El Salvador on students and their impressions of the value of "active learning" through travel. One student confessed to a prejudice that he was able to overcome because of this trip:

"I hate to say it but I had a preconceived notion that the people down here would not be as intelligent as people in the US. To be completely honest, I guess I have an intellectual prejudice against many countries around the world…the idea that they do not have the intellectual capacity… [but now I realize it} is very wrong."

Another student wrote in their final course evaluation that "throughout the whole course all I could think was "this was the reason I came to APU. The trip was life changing!"

Jessica's evaluation of the course concluded that it "…had an effect on knowledge levels and also challenged subjects' values, beliefs, and behavioral intentions. In an ever shrinking global community facing environmental challenges, courses of this nature are valuable in forming globally conscious citizens."

Every experience is a learning experience and an opportunity to expand personal understanding, The students participating in this travel learning came away from Central America with a deeper respect and awareness of the cultural and economic differences that guide conservation efforts as well as survival efforts of people in developing countries.