8th Grade

American students often spend time in a foreign country, but they may never truly experience the people and their culture. HWA's eighth grade Field Study Tour is different: it is down and a little dirty (from service projects), and it is nearly always a life-changing experience! In eight days, HWA's students travel back in time to a small, remote Ecuadorean village. HWA partners with the
Tandana Foundation to offer an exceptional,
cross-cultural experience. The Tandana
Foundation explains that it is "not about helping
the poor unfortunates... Rather, our goal is to
create and nurture resposible relationships
among people of different cultures."

Students travel from Bozeman to Quito in one
long day. The next morning a Tandana represen-
tative drives them to Otavalo, where the HWA
group shops for the weeks' food at the famous
Otavalo market. It's then an hour's drive to the
final destination: the remote village of Padra-
chupa. HWA students will be primarily working
with–and learning from–elementary students as
they involve themselves in gardening and craft projects.

HWA students will have had two full years of Spanish classes before their trip to Ecuador;
the experience in Padrachupa provides total immersion in the language. It also provides a unique opportunity for young people from two very different cultures to enrich one another's lives.

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