Group Travel

DCIS offers students many opportunities for group travel. Some trips are teacher-led and open to all (click here to see photos from previous years’ trips). Others are class-wide trips for a particular grade level that mandate participation on either the trip or a local alternative. For example, the 10th-grade class has been to Canyonlands in Utah every year for a week for the last few years. Those who are unable to go opt for the local alternative, which offers a variety of cultural events and activities in or near Denver. 

Please contact the sponsoring teacher or Kevin Adams for more information.

Individual Travel/Study Abroad/Exchanges

DCIS Students travel with a variety of groups depending on their interests and goals. Below are some organizations that we partner with regularly due to the quality of their programs and how well they support the DCIS Mission.

• CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) DCIS is the only CIEE Global Navigator school in the Mountain West. This gives our students extra attention from CIEE in choosing students for their programs and awarding scholarships. In 2020, CIEE awarded our students over $17,000 in scholarships to spend a month in places like Spain, Japan, Morocco and China. Their programs support all languages taught at DCIS with month-long programs in twelve countries. They also support our school mission by offering Service and Leadership experiences as well as Global Discovery programs in the arts, STEM, Global Entrepreneurship and International Relations and Activism.

• Adolesco is an extremely affordable exchange program offering cross-cultural homestay exchanges in Germany, France, Spain, Canada and the UK/Ireland.

• The Blue Star of Hope’s Power Of One program offered profound experiences for many DCIS students. Students spend time hand feeding, bathing, and learning about and caring for Asian elephants, as well as river rafting, ocean swimming, visiting a typical Thai school and teaching English, and eating traditional foods.

• The Rotary Youth Exchange offers high school students an opportunity to apply for an academic year abroad. Applications are generally accepted in the fall for the following school year. Contact your local Rotary for more information and details in the fall. Applications are usually due by November 1.

Exchanges and Hosting

Hosting students from another country is “a way to connect with the world from our front door and see our country through another’s eyes.” So says DCIS parent Donna Bryson, whose family has hosted many foreign students, usually for a few weeks at a time (read the full article here).

Derek Chandler, who is a coordinator for Education First (EF) High School Exchange Year, says that being a host family is as rewarding for you as it is for the international student you bring into your home. You learn about another culture, you provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a teenager from across the globe, and you form a relationship that will stay with you and your family forever.

Hosts can opt for short-term or longer-term stays, from a few weeks up to a year. Hosting requirements vary but at a minimum typically involve providing the student with room and board and treating the student as a member of the family rather than as a guest. Host families are not paid, but in appreciation of their role as citizen ambassadors, they are eligible to take a charitable deduction on their income tax return. 

Contact Travel Center Director Kevin Adams if you are interested in learning more about hosting. Please complete the Host Family Application so we have your information on file.