As our name implies, at the core of every program is the opportunity for students to work and live “shoulder to shoulder” with our local non-profit partners.  The benefits of every SStS program include:

• Spending at least half of the days at each program site engaged in meaningful service work in support of our partner NGOs’ proven projects.
• Embracing the opportunities that arise during shared labor to build genuine relationships of mutual respect and trust with local residents.
• Overcoming the “paralysis of enormity” that often accompanies studying major global problems such as poverty, illiteracy, and disease by actively participating in the implementation of sustainable solutions created by inspiring local leaders.
• Learning valuable lessons about the history, practices, and structure of our partners’ non-profit organizations from a truly grassroots perspective.
• Participating in a series of interactive on-line activities before the travel phase of each program in order to ensure that each SStS student can fully appreciate the culture in which they will be immersed.
• Analyzing the immersion experience through SStS’s “five lenses curriculum” which aims to give participants a richer understanding of the political, cultural, economic, geographic, and ethical factors that make our NGO partners’ work necessary.
• Providing each participant with the opportunity to “go public” with what they have learned after their return home.