Parents Page

Testimonials from parents of past participants...

"Our son benefited from the time away from normal daily life and came away with a life direction change. He reflected upon his career choice and no longer wanted to go in that direction, but had a clear direction of his path. He is much more attuned to his environment around him and helpful. He has developed life-long friendships and got a head-start meeting friends before Freshman year. I would say that he has become much more focused in his life's purpose. The experience also gave him a test ride on being away from home and how to prioritize his time better preparing him for his Freshman year."

"The servicio program allowed our daughter to experience Ecuador in a way never possible under a parent's wings. She was able to learn and experience the culture with the group while taking on responsibilities for her decisions. She returned home a more mature woman."

"My daughter returned from Servicio with a greater understanding of relationships. This includes relationships with her family back home, relationships with the indigenous people as well as relationships with her new DePauw family. This made the transition to college so smooth."

"We feel that our daughter benefited by this program by meeting and becoming close to other incoming freshman prior to the school year. She learned a lot about how other people live outside of the US. She most enjoyed the time spent with the indigenous family."

"The Servicio en las Americas program was an amazing experience for our son. We feel so blessed that he had this opportunity. We were sad (and a little apprehensive) to see him go, but we were excited for him as we knew the experience would life changing. As parents, we have tried to expose our children to as much diversity and culture as possible. However, nothing could compare to the real world experiences he had being immersed in speaking Spanish and traveling to Ecuador."

"The Servicio experience was a once in a life time experience for [our daughter]. Solidarity through service should be a lesson we all learn. Besides the cultural and educational benefits, the social benefits have been tremendous. I am sure that Emily developed friendships during the Servicio experience that will last a life time. It opened the door for an easy transition to college life for the Fall semester. She entered her Freshman year at DePauw with confidence and excitement."