Verto Education First Semester Abroad

As parents, Verto offered an unparalleled and crucial experience for our daughter as she launched her academic career. Over the past three months, she lived in two countries, was part of a vibrant community of students and teachers, and learned about her passion for environmental studies through hands-on experiences and professionals in the field. Through all this and more, she has gained independence, confidence in her ability to keep up with the rigors of academics, and a greater hunger to learn more and make a difference in the world. While she was away, Verto Education regularly gave us updates with great photos(!) and had her safety and well-being as a priority. We would not hesitate to recommend this program to others. Verto Education delivers as advertised! A great freshman year, indeed.
Christy Tull and Bill Tijerina

Excellent program for our daughter that was focused on both academics and service. We are very happy and it's definitely an experience we would like to give our younger kids in the future. Awesome work by the leaders on teaching college bound students on life skills and time management. I was one of those parents that new very little about the program but was reassured by High Point University that the program was safe and transformative. I'm glad I decided to embark my daughter on this trip for her first semester of college. She is ready to continue her studies in a college environment with a different perspective of life. For all the parents that are hesitant on sending their child to study abroad, do not be afraid. It is a supervised program with great leaders.

Verto education is a great first semester abroad program for anyone that loves traveling, learning, and even maybe getting out of their comfort zone. The experiences that we had with NGO's, homestays and hikes really showed us all about the country and taught us more. The site visits really tied to our classwork and helped us learn about what we learned in class but with hands on. Verto Education is a very hands-on experience when it comes to classwork and learning but they also have many fun trips throughout the semester we are abroad. Highly recommend this gap year program to anyone. The group leaders are also very helpful with school work and want you to be successful throughout the semester they are very helpful with everything and are always there to help you and make you better at what you're struggling at.

My experience with Verto Education was a life-altering one and arduous one. However, I could never be more grateful for what it has taught me. I realized things about myself that I didn't know before. I plan on returning back to my initial homestay, the Dominican Republic has a place within my heart. I learned a tremendous amount from the NGO's and really felt that I was intellectually fulfilled. The classes touched every aspect that interested me. I want to acknowledge my leaders Jackie and Brian for truly caring for my self growth and well being as a student. Verto Education actually fulfilled my lifelong dream of staying with an indigenous community! I work with Aboriginals from Australia and loved learning about the Bri Bri culture. I would 110 percent recommend this program to someone else.

I really enjoyed this program because I got to travel while also taking classes and being intellectually stimulated as well as getting credits for university. That was my dream all along. One of my favorite parts was going to the Bateyes and building latrines. Even though it was very physically difficult, it was super impactful to see where these people live in small towns in the sugar cane fields and then learning in class about the problems in the DR with Haitian citizenship and women's issues. I also loved playing basketball with some of the school kids and having lunch with them, and dancing with the locals after expressing our gratitude for them letting us into their community showing us their lives. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I really got to walk in other peoples shoes. I have much more empathy and passion for other cultures than I ever had before.

This trip has definitely given me the opportunity to grow independently, and i'm glad i had the opportunity to meet all of the people i was able to meet in the communities, and the other student and program leaders on the trip. The service work felt powerful, but i would definitely tell people the experience with everyone was the highlight of my trip on Verto. The connections i made with the students here, and the program leaders i would be able to tell my kids about. The classes are absolutely amazing even if the topic doesn't particularly interesting to me i found it extremely engaging and enjoyable. There are many important things I learned on the trip that i never would have learned outside this program. The classes gave me a lot of historical, environmental, public health, and development insight.

I came into this program scared of the unknown, in a new country, with a group of complete strangers. We quickly got very close and realized how much we had in common and embraced our differences. So grateful that we got to enjoy the beautiful country of the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. I bonded very well with the group of 8 students and the program leaders were amazing on all levels. Cared so much for us as individuals and for our success on this program. We had so much fun and learned so much regarding public health, development, identity, and sustainability and now I will be changing my ways coming back home and implementing a lot into my life back home. Wouldn't trade my experience for anything else and this was such a better freshman year. Loved it a lot and would highly recommend.

I had a great experience on this trip. The in-country staff was amazing, and I connected with everyone, students and staff. Jackie and Brian were great, I felt that we had the perfect balance of fun, work and relax time. The excursions were super fun, the catamaran trip was great and I will always remember swimming in the cave. I was skeptical this trip would be more travel and excursion related and not academically rigorous but I'm glad that the classes were so great. I learned so much and I think there is a lot to be said for learning by doing. It was very meaningful to learn about the same things in class as we were learning about at the NGO visits and the fieldwork. The best way to learn something is by seeing it and experiencing it hands-on.

My 3 months in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica were an amazing time. Had so much fun and having courses that tied directly to what we saw definitely enriched the experience. Learned a ton about myself and got to be meaningfully immersed in other cultures. Program highlights include homestay, meeting students from all over the world, living without electricity, and many side adventures. Great combination of fun and learning.

Favorite part of the program had to be meeting my Costa Rican homestay family. Our dad, Elias was an amazing guy who was so willing to share his stories and experiences. Being on a farm and lending a hand was meaningful and made us more conscious of where our food comes from.

EARTH University was also an amazing part of the program. Sitting down in the cafeteria and having lunch with people from 8 different countries was an experience that I will remember for a long time.