Arrowhead High School will be hosting a service and culture trip to Ecuador. The trip is open to current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors and will take place in June of 2017.

A service trip is defined as traveling with the intent to help others. The AHS service trip to Ecuador will be planned and carried out by head coordinators Chris Herriot and Shanna Hechimovich, both history teachers at Arrowhead.

According to the informational document found on the Arrowhead website, the mission of the trip is to absorb culture as well as to build and restore local communities while promoting social justice.

Students who choose to participate in the trip to Ecuador will be visiting Otavalo and Quito. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and Otavalo is is a small town about two hours north of Quito.

The first parent and student informational meeting was held at North Campus in the junior study hall on Thursday, December 10, 2015, at 6:00 PM to discuss future plans for the trip.

Ecuador contains a piece of the Amazon rainforest. And on this trip, students will have the opportunity to visit the immense tropical rainforest, which is also home to anacondas, jaguars, and cougars. The Amazon rainforest also produces bananas, black pepper, chocolate, coffee, corn, pineapple, rice, and tomatoes.

As of date, there is no official date for the trip; however, Herriot says the trip will take place towards the end of June in 2017.

Herriot says, “My number one reason for having kids want to do this would be just as simple as wanting to see the world. Just the chance to immerse yourself in different cultures, and the opportunity to help people as well.”

Junior Logan Winser says he received a letter regarding the trip.

Winser says, “[I received] a letter thanking me for my interest on going to Ecuador telling me all the amazing sites of Ecuador.”

Regarding cost of the trip, Herriot says, “Total cost we won’t know until we have the total numbers–it is probably close to $3,000.”

Herriot says he believes students will be interested in this service trip, because while teaching global relations, Herriot asked students what kids were most interested in doing and they responded interest in service.

Herriot says the group of students planning on going will be able to set up a fundraising system from the trips official website http://www.eftours.com/tour-website/1809170JU.

There are no remaining spots on the trip.