School Service and Language Immersion Program 2025
On this immersive journey, experience Guatemalan cultures, languages and histories in the center of the Mayan Highlands region, Lake Atitlán.
Our mission supports indigenous, rural communities to restore their farming heritage through contemporary training in intensive organic farming, climate change mitigation and small business training.
Take part in these projects and work side by side with families who are learning these new techniques, feeding their families and communities, and rebuilding their local agricultural economy.
Since 2006, ViviendasLeón has operated our immersion travel program, bringing more than 2,000 volunteers to Central America who support our organization’s mission: Alleviating poverty by empowering and equipping rural communities to become the agents of their own transformation.
“I was profoundly moved by my experience on the trip. The families, the community, the staff, everyone carried with them an immense amount of warmth and joy for life. We stayed with host families, sharing meals and thoughts and plans with them, growing our bond as the time progressed. I had never felt so embraced by a culture and its community.
I observed real poverty for the first time in rural communities, where we worked alongside community members, including children, and young adults around the same age as I was at the time. These interactions were some of the most impactful to me throughout the entire trip.”
J Ozuki, USF student
Highlights:
- Stay with host families in the lakeside town of San Juan la Laguna, and enjoy traditional foods, Spanish language conversations and lake community culture.
- Optional morning language school classes available to reinforce language learning.
- Spend multiple days getting to know families living in indigenous rural communities while working side by side on their small, organic farms, over our mid-day lunch and through cultural activities.
- On weekends, enjoy regional visits to other lake communities with unique cultural activities, historic sites and nature reserves.
Program details:
1 and 2 week trips may be scheduled beginning January 1 – June 30, 2025
Program cost:
Contact ViviendasLeón for pricing. All in-country expenses included. Airfare is not included
A typical day:
- Wake up and have a typical breakfast with your host family.
- Head to the rural community to work side-by-side with community members on their project.
- Lunch in the community
- Continuing work with families and community activities, then return to the Lake.
- Evenings are spent over dinner with host families
- Weekend visits to nearby places of cultural, historic and natural importance.
Learn more: Download our School Immersion Travel Guide for Guatemala
Past schools in our program:
San Francisco Friends School
The San Francisco School
The Drew School
The Branson School
Cathedral School for Boys
Lick Wilmerding High School
Balboa High School
International High School
The Field School, Washington DC
University of San Francisco
Clarkson University
Register:
Registration is now open. Use this link to register for this unique educational travel experience.
