This summer, Blue Bell student Josephine Samuel will travel to Montana Blackfeet, with VISIONS Service Adventures, an international community service program for teens. Samuel will join other high school students from around the world on the Blackfeet Reservation, where they will live in the community, get to know the local customs and traditions and tackle ambitious service projects.

“Students arrive with the intent of contributing to underserved communities, and end up a part of that community,” says Katherine Dayton, Executive Director of VISIONS. “They build relationships with other participants, mentors and community members, and step out of their comfort zones and into experiences that create lifelong impact.”

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Together with a local nonprofit, students will renovate buildings and mend fences on the conservation ranch where they live. Other projects include building wheelchair ramps and weatherization improvements for community elders. In addition, students will partner with the Nature Conservancy and Montana Conservation Corps for a few days to remove invasive plant species. This is the 29th year VISIONS will spend in Montana.

Afternoons and weekends are set aside for regional travel and exploring the home-base area. In Montana, students will attend a powwow and possibly a sweat lodge, and meet with tribal leaders and historians. They will also spend time backpacking the spectacular Glacier National Park, as well as shorter outdoor excursions including horseback riding, wildlife viewing and possibly rock-climbing if conditions permit.

All programs are overseen by adult leaders and long-time local partners, who guide and teach the students in hands-on construction and other development projects. Beyond completing service projects, the summer is an opportunity for students to explore the idea of community in both a local and global sense. “VISIONS is not about construction projects,” explains long-time program leader David Kramer. “It is about deconstructing how we view the world and then framing a new vision upon the foundation of real experience with a global perspective.”

VISIONS has been running high school and middle school volunteer travel experiences since 1989 and is well known for programs that are centered on community-driven projects in cross-cultural settings. Locations include Alaska, the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Guadeloupe, the Montana Blackfeet and Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservations, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and the Galápagos and Peru.

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