Students during a LEAP course to Vietnam in 2023. Photo provided.
“The Adirondack Athlete,” “Farm to Table & Culinary Experience,” “Canines: Understanding Man’s Best Friend,” “Community Service for Early Childhood Education,” and “Fly Fishing.” You might recognize these names from our experiential learning program here at Northwood called ‘LEAP,’ launched in 2017 by Ms. Marcy Fagan, who is also known for teaching Human Biology here at Northwood. When the Head of School, Mr. Michael Maher, asked her to create an experiential learning program for Northwood that would be a signature program that would attract students looking forward to coming to Northwood.
Since then, students have traveled around the world, including to Iceland (six times), Tanzania (twice), St. Lucia (twice), and Vietnam. This spring, trips were planned to the Galapagos Islands, Iceland, and the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, civil unrest in Ecuador has disrupted the planned trip to Galapagos.
In January, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency due to civil unrest in Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city. According to the New York Times, “Noboa declared an internal armed conflict…and ordered the armed forces to ‘neutralize’ two dozen gangs, which he described as ‘terrorist organizations’…Shops, schools, government offices, and buildings were shut down. Workers were sent home, and streets in Quito and Guayaquil were jammed with traffic.”
Ecuador is not only the site of the Galapagos Islands but also home to several Northwood students. Ms. Fagan’s first thoughts were for the safety of their families. After learning that everyone was okay, she needed to decide on going to Galapagos. Fagan canceled the trip because flights needed to be booked, and there was no guarantee that travel to Ecuador would be safe during LEAP.
Thankfully, Ms. Fagan has the experience and ability to pivot and plan a completely new LEAP. Fagan planned a new trip to Costa Rica focusing on student safety. All but two students originally planning to go to the Galapagos will go to Costa Rica. Everyone is super excited about the new trip.
“I was shocked when I heard about the reason Galapagos got canceled, and I am glad we were able to avoid that situation,” said Cara Dempsey ‘25, who is looking forward to Costa Rica.
