Location
  • United States of America
    • Hawaii
Length
12 - 26 weeks
Program Tags
Adventure Travel Conservation Cultural Immersion Post-High School Wilderness
General grants/scholarships, Payment plans, 529 Plan eligibility
Health & Safety

Program Details

Activities
Backpacking Hiking Surfing
Timeframe
Fall
Primary Language
English

Pricing

Starting Price
12496
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Meals Transportation Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Travel Insurance
Feb 08, 2021
Nov 23, 2020
0 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

A new kind of campus, for today's student!

Keep your college education on track this fall with our campuses located in the most beautiful areas in the United States. You'll have freedom to explore, study, and be surrounded with awesome like-minded people! Complete your own degree, at your own college, online at our campus. We will provide a remote workspace, resources, and dedicated teaching staff to support you individually.

Discovery Campus is for students who are enrolled to study online for the upcoming semester looking for a unparalleled by the semester exchange!

This program is currently not being promoted on Go Overseas by its provider. Check with Pacific Discovery for the most up-to-date information regarding the status of this program.

Video and Photos

Diversity & Inclusion

BIPOC Support

We understand that we have a long way to go in achieving the diversity we strive for among our students, staff, and partners. We are committed to fostering a more diverse and inclusive organization, and we recognize that this requires time, effort, and resources. At Pacific Discovery, we deeply value diversity, equity, and social justice, and we are dedicated to creating educational experiences that reflect and promote these values. Our program curriculum incorporates social justice education and encourages students to explore their own identities. To further support these efforts, we offer a 'Diverse Voices' Scholarship.

LGBTQIA+ Support

All of our Pacific Discovery programs are LGBTQIA+ friendly, and our operations team have attended CIS Abroad's LGBTQ+ Allyship Training, to ensure we’re doing what we can to support this community. We provide an open and non judgemental space for students to explore who they are at this pivotal time of their life, and in our admissions process we seek information not only on a student's gender, but their pronouns and gender identity. We’re aware of the differing cultural perspectives of LQBTQIA in the countries that we visit, and can direct students to a semester location where they’ll feel the most comfortable. Operationally we ensure that our instructors use inclusive language and can facilitate conversations with students around their identity, and discuss the rooming situations with LGBTQIA+ students.

Neurodivergent Support

Our programs are designed to support students with a wide range of neurodiverse conditions while following our essential eligibility criteria. For students needing extra help, we provide personalized wellness plans . These plans include coping strategies, care protocols, and specific requirements to help them engage effectively in the program. Our instructors have access to mental health first aid resources and are well-prepared to offer strong support to students with these needs.

Accessibility Support

Our programs offer a variety of physical activities, including hiking, surfing, rafting, and mountain biking. We make sure to accommodate students with diverse needs such as asthma, diabetes, and chronic medical conditions, while working within the infrastructure of the host country and our program schedules. We're mindful of the varying levels of accessibility in the countries we visit and can help students choose a semester location where they feel most at ease.

Impact

Sustainability

Sustainability is one of the 6 core components of each Pacific Discovery program, where we educate students about the local and global environmental issues, how to travel sustainably, and have them think deeply about their impact and what they can do in their daily lives to affect change.

We recently embarked on a Net Positive Benefit project where we are qualifying what impacts our groups have on the local communities, taking into consideration carbon emissions +/- social impacts +/- conservation impacts +/- community impacts. On our programs, students engage with non-profit organisations such as Litter Intelligence, Scholars of Sustenance, Ulu Mau puanui, Llama Pack project where they directly work for a better future - planting trees, eradicating invasive weed species, helping local communities and food banks.

Ethical Impact

We make a conscious decision to partner with host communities and suppliers who are passionate about our students' participation and involvement with them being of a positive benefit to the community. We want our presence to enable positive sustainable growth for our partners and this mantra is ingrained in the fabric of our programs.

Program Highlights

  • Elective co-curricular programs
  • Dedicated & supported study time
  • Optional activity & excursion program
  • Small class and campus sizes - 12-36 students
  • A better way to complete your online degree

Program Reviews

1.00 Rating
based on 1 review
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  • Housing 4
  • Support 1
  • Fun 3
  • Value 4
  • Safety 3
Showing 1 - 1 of 1 reviews
Default avatar
Eliza
1/5
No, I don't recommend this program

Pacific Discovery, Discovery Campus Hilo HI, Fall 2020

Pacific Discovery bit off more than they could chew. They were ill-prepared for launching a new program during a world-wide pandemic. The concept of Discovery Campus was born only 2 months prior to start date, and it showed. Important infrastructure, like WiFi for online learning, was insufficient for the first 3 weeks of the program. Staff time and energy was spent attending to this problem, instead of focusing on program orientation and student transition to college life. One of the two group leaders was unavailable to the students upon their arrival as he was still in quarantine.

I was disappointed with the two group leaders for my daughter's Discovery Campus program. They lacked the maturity and responsibility required to run such a program. Communication was poor and inadequate. Questions were either answered insufficiently or not at all. They were ill-equipped to handle the various obstacles that they confronted. It's a big deal to send your child to live away from home for the first time, and I did not feel comfortable with the supervision and leadership provided.

What would you improve about this program?
Better/more in-depth staff training.
Better preparation from Pacific Discovery.
30 people found this review helpful.
Response from Pacific Discovery

Dear Eliza,

Thank you for submitting your feedback. We are truly sorry to hear that you felt the program was inadequately resourced and program queries not managed to your satisfaction.

The health and safety of all our students and instructors was paramount going into this past semester, therefore strict guidelines and protocols were put in place and followed for the protection of all. The overwhelming success of Discovery Campus can be attributed to our team's ability to constantly adapt in the face of increasing and changing state restrictions particularly evident in the early quarter of the program.

If your daughter was able to stay for the duration of the program we believe she would have had a different experience, however, we were more than happy to facilitate her and your specific needs during that time.

While no program is perfect, we will be taking the learnings of this semester into the next, as we’re constantly striving to improve and enhance our program experience.

Wishing you all the best, Zach Johnston, Director.

Questions & Answers