As I write this, I'm waiting for our students to return from their weXplore, a five-day excursion that takes students beyond their host city for immersive cultural experiences. For the past two months, we as a school have called Maun, Botswana, our home. It's a small town on the edge of the Okavango Delta and, for many travelers, a doorway into Africa. But Maun is only one perspective, and it...
Read MoreAs we bring our Oaxaca term to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has been a deeply meaningful chapter in our shared journey. This term has been grounded in community and connection, and it is hard to imagine a more fitting setting for that work than Oaxaca.
Oaxaca Student Showcase
Last week we celebrated our term of learning with our Oaxaca Showcase. This was not just a presentation of final products, but a reflection of the process of growth, experimentation, and collaboration. Students spoke with confidence about their work and with insight about their learning, demonstrating how deeply they had engaged with both the academic material and the place itself.
Embracing Día de los Muertos
Looking back though, it is hard to believe it was seven weeks ago we began our time here in this wonderful city with the festivities of Día de los Muertos. A celebration that offered students a powerful entry point into understanding how culture, memory, and community are woven together. Through visits to Azompa Village, Mitla, and Monte Albán, we encountered history not as something distant or abstract, but as something lived and honored in the present.
These early experiences invited reflection, curiosity, and humility, and they set the tone for a term in which students were asked again and again to listen closely and engage thoughtfully with the world around them.
Ciencia y Artivismo: A Look at Our Modules
From there, students moved quickly into our academic program, diving into either the Ethnobotany and Artivismo modules. With Educators Kelsey, Saila, Shasta and Heidi leading these, students were challenged to consider how knowledge is created and shared, whose voices are centered, and how both art and science as different disciplines can both serve as tools for understanding and change.
Oaxaca itself became a classroom, its plants, murals, markets, and stories offering constant invitations to make connections across disciplines. We saw students grow not only in their academic thinking, but in their ability to ask better questions, sit with complexity, and collaborate with care.
Partnerships That Matter
None of the learning we do at THINK Global School happens independently, and our time in Oaxaca is no exception. We are profoundly grateful to the partners who make this work possible, particularly Carlos and his team at Coyote Adventuras. Their behind-the-scenes efforts, local knowledge, and deep commitment to responsible travel and education allowed our students to experience Oaxaca with both safety and integrity. If you, or friends of yours,find yourselves visiting Oaxaca in the future, I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Mole y Memelas: What We Learned Around Shared Meals
Community also showed up for us in very tangible, everyday ways, especially around food. Over the course of the term, we truly ate our way across the city, sharing tacos, tlayudas, quesadillas, and countless meals that became moments of connection and belonging. These shared experiences, simple as they may seem, are often where some of the most meaningful conversations happen, where students relax, reflect, and build relationships with one another and with staff.
As I look back on this term, I am struck by how much our students have grown, not just as learners, but as members of a community.
Oaxaca reminded us that education is at its best when it is relational, place-based, and rooted in real connection. We leave this chapter grateful for what we’ve learned here and proud of the way our students showed up for one another and for this community that welcomed us.