INVESTIGATOR TRIPS TRAVEL FOR THE CLASSES OF 2022, 2023, AND 2024

To Investigate, and Beyond

Since the inaugural Global Investigator Trips in 2008, the junior class has embarked on travel-based handson learning experiences in China, India, Guatemala, France, Senegal, and the Dominican Republic. Agility is a core learning competency in the ACE Center, and this year’s graduating Class of 2022 displayed great flexibility when their junior trip was postponed due to COVID. As a result, they traveled during their senior year, spending a week in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert at the U.S. and Mexico border to explore concepts that have always been at the core of this experience— learning how to understand, value, and respect the dignity of others—this time in a community within the United States.

One focus of this trip was to explore how local landscapes and politics affect the environment and the wider ecological system. In order to engage more deeply with these topics, the class spent a morning in Saguaro National Park. Many students removed Buffelgrass, an invasive species, from the park. As we learned during Global Week 2022, this intentional clearing actually helps prevent the spread of wildfire, and subsequent displacement of animals. Later that week, students visited Nogales, a city directly on the border. They met with Borderlandia, an organization that seeks to build the public’s understanding of borderlands. While the class was in Tucson, environmental experts from the Sierra Club described 2023 DESTINATIONS • Bolivia • Peru • Indonesia • Santa Fe, New Mexico

how certain sections of the border separating the U.S. and Mexico hinder animals from crossing into their natural habitats due to increased erosion and flooding.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a complete Castilleja experience without learning about the local cuisine. Students took a Sonoran cooking class and made a delicious tamale lunch with rajas, salsa fresca, esquite (corn salad), and black beans.

Next year, the Classes of 2023 and 2024 will have the opportunity to travel to one of four places—New Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, or Indonesia—to explore firsthand the socio-political and economic complexities of living in a globalized world. Through an examination of social justice, truth and beauty, global systems, and women in the world—four of Castilleja’s Interdisciplinary Content Areas—students will develop empathy, knowledge, and cultural competence, all critical elements of this capstone experience.