At Western Reserve Academy, learning can take you everywhere — literally! Travel to Guatemala, Greece, China, Costa Rica, Taiwan (and more!) for language immersion, global engagement, service learning and an experience that will broaden your horizons far beyond the classroom walls.
Educational Opportunities, Beyond WRA
Imagine telling your friends that you spent a summer participating in service learning in Guatemala or at a DocPrep program at the Baylor College of Medicine. Whether it’s engaging in polymer sustainability research at the University of Akron’s Goodyear Polymer Center or snorkeling with tropical fish in the Galápagos, these experiences are exclusive to us and are truly transformational.
Three Examples...
Service At Reserve: Community Outreach & Global Engagement
As our school prepares to surpass 200 years, we have an opportunity to both reflect, think ahead, and decide what the next century will look like for our school. Our Head of School Suzanne Walker Buck has prioritized impact, making sure that we are always seeking opportunities to serve others and adventure beyond our walls to make our community, and our world, a better place. Service, outreach and engagement is important, she says. It reminds us that there is a purpose bigger than ourselves.
In this spirit, Reserve's social mission comes to life.
Our Community Outreach & Global Engagement program is called re-SERVE Inside Out and focuses on grade level themes. re-SERVE challenges students to become an active member of our internal community freshman year, serve our neighboring communities sophomore year, recognize our environmental impact junior year and both mentor incoming community members and become responsible global leaders as seniors and PGs.
We serve communities, both neighboring and far, to better understand and know the world around us. We also give our students the chance to steer this mission through our Service Leaders, who take on the responsibility of planning, organizing and running a multitude of service projects.
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Phone Free Days! Our Unplugged Service Retreats
Our students travel to parks, campgrounds and farms for these service retreats, handing off their phones for a device-free day. In nature and among friends, students find that connection comes easily without screens! They treasure these retreats, with some even wishing they didn't have to get their phones back after!
The Service Leaders
WRA's Service Leaders curate multiple opportunities for the WRA community to engage in service projects. With every fundraising event and service activity, you can expect the Service Leaders to educate their peers about this opportunity, explain what is needed and the importance of giving back.
For these Service Leaders, volunteering is not just a pastime, it is an essential part of their lives. Their civic contributions often extend far beyond their Service Leader responsibilities and into personal pursuits, such as taking on the role of Red Cross Ambassador.
Each year, Service Leaders run several major school fundraisers, such as Haunted Hayden Hall, candy cane sales to benefit The Akron Canton Food Bank, the Toys for Tots drive and the annual Color Run that benefits the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where select students travel for a service trip each summer.
Service Travel Opportunities
- Pine Ridge Reservation: Western Reserve Academy's annual trip to Pine Ridge Reservation is a life-changing experience. WRA partners with RE-MEMBER, a non-profit organization that operates on the Reservation, to provide a service-learning experience that gives students the chance to work with the Oglala Lakota community and immerse themselves in the Lakota culture. Students engage in service work to improve the quality of life for those who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation and learn about the culture of the Lakota people through service projects, visiting important cultural sites and speaking with members of the community.
- Jump the World: Jump the World is a one-to-one exchange program between students from Western Reserve Academy and students in Guatemala. Each summer, two WRA students travel to Guatemala, where they will live in a homestay, attend classes and become part of a local school community. The trip begins with a week-long community service project. For the next three weeks, students will attend schools alongside their counterpart (brother or sister) in their host families. In the final week, students will have a school vacation and will travel with their host families.
