Milton Hershey School Emphasizes Multicultural and Global Education with Academic Trips Abroad

Every MHS high school student has the opportunity to travel outside the United States.

Milton Hershey School’s  Multicultural and Global Education initiative provides all high school students with opportunities to gain worldly experiences through international travel. With  one trip scheduled this summer and three trips scheduled for the 2017-18 school year, MHS students will gain a better understanding of themselves, different cultures, and their communities by traveling outside the United States.

“The goal is for students to experience a culture that’s different from theirs,” said Andrew Miller, a social studies curriculum supervisor at MHS. “The experience of [traveling abroad] can help students see the world differently and engage with the world in new ways.”

In the last two years, MHS students have traveled to Iceland, Costa Rica, Peru, and Eastern Europe. The school offers three travel opportunities that instill an appreciation for other cultures and enhanced global awareness:

• Academic Tours– These trips are educational study abroad experiences designed to help MHS students see as many cultures as possible. Students tour multiple cities and visit historic attractions that coincide with an educational theme.

• Language Immersion Trips– These experiences are reserved for MHS students who have been enrolled in foreign language courses, including French and Spanish. During the language immersion trips, students have a platform to use their language in another country to reinforce their academic studies. 

• Global Summits– These trips are similar to academic tours but end with a global, student-centered conference. Students hear from world-renowned speakers, attend expert-led workshops, and apply their design thinking skills in a group setting to solve real-world challenges.

The worldly experience students gain from each type of trip empowers them on an academic, social and emotional level.

“If we send students abroad to see another culture, that’s great,” said Miller. “But we also want them to come back and think about how they’re going to change their communities with what they’ve gained from their travels.”

Learn more about Milton Hershey School’s commitment to multicultural and global education.