School the World has been leading Service Learning trips since 2013, bringing students and corporate volunteers together with communities to work side-by-side, learn from one another, and expand educational opportunity.
This year marked another extraordinary season.
143 students and 26 corporate volunteers traveled with School the World across Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and, for the very first time, the Philippines. With this year’s World Changers, nearly 1,800 people have now participated in a School the World Service Learning experience.
Along the way, they built classrooms and playgrounds, painted murals, created spaces for reading, and formed connections that extended well beyond the work itself.
Here are a few highlights from the 2026 season.
Our February World Changers kicked off the season with a major milestone: the dedication of School the World’s 200th school.
Working alongside the community in Tululché II, students completed two new classrooms, including colorful murals that now provide the backdrop for students learning there every day.
Read about the dedication of School #200
The trip also inspired some creative fundraising. World Changer Liv found a unique way to combine her artistic talents with her commitment to the community.
March took us somewhere entirely new.
A team of Flywire volunteers joined School the World for our first-ever Service Learning trip to the Philippines, braving the heat and helping us build a new experience alongside new partners and communities.
Together, they constructed two playgrounds in New Cuyo, the first playgrounds within three hours of the community.
See what happened when play came to New Cuyo
It was fitting that Flywire helped us take this step. Nearly a decade ago, Flywire was among the partners that helped us establish our corporate service program, and FlyMates have been showing up ever since.
Read about the Flywire and School the World partnership
Our second corporate trip brought together volunteers from IMG, IvyWise, Flywire, Envisage, and International Citizens.
Working as one team, World Changers helped complete two classrooms and a playground in Tululché I.
Several participants later shared their own reflections on what the experience meant to them:
Antonio Zapata, Envisage: More Than Just Classrooms
Karyn Johnson, IvyWise: Getting My Hands Dirty in Guatemala
Angelica Saggers, Flywire: A Week That Changed How I Think About Opportunity
Jackie Jimenez, International Citizens Group: Expanding Educational Opportunities in Guatemala
Their stories offer a glimpse of why a Service Learning experience is about much more than what gets built.
Our partnership with the Ron Burton Training Village reached its eighth year in 2026, and RBTV brought our largest Service Learning group to date.
Despite long drives and rainy weather, these World Changers accomplished an incredible amount: finishing two classrooms, painting four murals, and refurbishing two additional classrooms.
Read about the RBTV and School the World partnership
And the work did not end when the students returned home. We recently went back to Flor de Anís to deliver books for classroom libraries, another part of our five-year commitment to strengthening education in each partner community.
Learn how books help us build a culture of reading
Rainy weather did little to slow down the World Changers in Kuerima. The team worked hard to complete two classrooms and two murals, helping create bright new learning spaces for students.
We have since returned with books for classroom libraries, continuing our focus on literacy as part of our five-year partnership with the community.
The trip also brought together some special connections. World Changer Owen Bragg came to School the World after his mother had previously participated in a corporate trip to Panama with Flywire.
Read the Bragg family’s School the World story
Peace Corps Volunteers also played an important role during the trip, helping our students navigate language and culture and better understand the communities that welcomed them.
Read about our partnership with Peace Corps Panama
The Cohasset High School World Changers helped create two new playgrounds in Los Reyes, adding safe, welcoming spaces for children to move, imagine, build friendships, and simply play.
The trip was also the latest chapter in a growing Cohasset tradition, thanks in large part to graduating students Mia Peeples and Nora Elwell, who helped establish the school’s School the World club and championed two trips during their time at Cohasset.
Play is an important part of a child’s educational experience, which is why playgrounds have long been part of our approach. This year, School the World reached 131 playgrounds and counting.
Read why we believe so strongly in the power of play
In El Arenal, World Changers focused on making the school an even more welcoming place for students.
The group created a new reading corner with a mural and bookshelves and refreshed painted spaces and playgrounds throughout the school.
The trip was also another reminder that every Service Learning experience depends on a much larger team. In Guatemala, that includes our trusted van drivers, several of whom have been transporting World Changers since our earliest trips in 2013.
Meet the Guatemala van drivers who help make our trips possible
Our final student trip of the season was also our only trip to Honduras.
While spending time with students in El Tamarindo, World Changers quickly found a shared language on the soccer field. They also noticed that the goals had no nets.
Two students helped get the idea started, but the entire group agreed: they wanted to do something about it. Together, the World Changers raised additional funds for two new soccer nets for a field used by students and the broader community.
It was a small moment that captured something important about Service Learning: students learn to pay attention, connect, and respond.
Read how a simple goal inspired World Changers to give back
Chaperone Reyna Eastwood also reflected on the broader impact she saw in the students, particularly the opportunity these experiences give young people to become more thoughtful, connected global citizens.
For our World Changers, the Service Learning experience lasts about a week. For our community partners, the relationship is much longer.
School the World makes an intensive five-year commitment to the communities where we work. New classrooms and playgrounds are only part of the story. We continue working alongside teachers, parents, students, community leaders, and local government through teacher training, books and libraries, parent engagement, tutoring, scholarships, and other educational programs designed to create lasting opportunity.
And for the nearly 1,800 World Changers who have traveled with us since 2013, we hope the experience lasts much longer than a week too.
The next Service Learning season is already taking shape.
Our 2027 trip schedule is now available, with opportunities for high school and college students to travel, serve, learn, and experience what it means to work side-by-side with communities around the world.
