Tuition, room and board, and $930 travel fee. Passport & immunizations.
May-Summer SSTers pay summer tuition rates.
SST Semester
Ecuador
Theme(s) Indigenous Communities
What you can expect:
Hike volcanoes, explore equatorial forests, sample exotic new fruits and connect with local Indigenous communities: this is Ecuador SST. Located on South America’s Pacific coast between Colombia and Peru, Ecuador straddles the equator and features one of the most diverse and vital ecosystems on the planet.
Ecuador, a country about the size of Colorado, is home to the Andes Mountains, the Amazon rainforest and an extensive Pacific coastal region. With nearly 25 percent of the Ecuadorian population representing an indigenous group, students can expect a rich cultural experience.
Upcoming Terms & Trip Leaders
- May-Summer Semester 2025-26:
Hillary Harder and Micah Detweiler, April 29 – July 27 - Spring and May-summer semester 2026-27:
Contact [email protected] for information
Study
Everywhere you turn in this relatively small country, you encounter a diversity of natural environments and cultures. For the first six weeks, students live with host families in Quito, a bustling capital city of about 2.5 million people located at nearly 10,000 feet elevation. Students have Spanish language classes each day, as well as seminars and field trips covering aspects of Ecuadorian culture and history.
Indigenous cultures are a key theme in this SST location. Students visit indigenous commumities, and those already fluent in Spanish have the opportunity to learn some Kichwa–an indigenous language. Among our partners is the Cofán Survival Fund, an NGO dedicated to the preservation of the Cofán indigenous culture and their Amazonian home.
Sustainability is another emphasis. Thanks to a generous donor who funds carbon on-sets for SST travel, Goshen College was able to support two solar projects in locations where SSTers have service assignments. SSTers visit these projects and learn about their contexts.
Service
For the second half of their three-month stay, students spread out to smaller communities across the Ecuadorian highlands to live with new host families and complete work assignments. Service assignments may include work with educational, artistic, environmental, health care, social service or agricultural organizations.
Courses
Spanish: Language (4 credit hours)
GLST 250: Cultural Perspectives -Ecuador (3 credit hours)
GLST 270: Community Engaged Learning – Ecuador (3 credit hours)
GLST 260: Global Topics – Ecuador (3 credit hours)
GLST 305: SST Integration Capstone (2 credit hours)
Final retreat in Ecuador
By Hillary Harder On Sunday, July 26, our students returned to Quito from their service communities and we began our final retreat together! The afternoon was full of joyful reunions as each student arrived at our Quito home, la Casa…
Study AbroadLife on the ward
By Dayanara Aguirre-Mulato During my service placement at the municipal Centro Médico in Riobamba, I had the privilege to be able to work alongside other nurses. Day to day each patient comes in to register for their appointment and I…
Study AbroadService visits: opportunities for connection in Ecuador’s “provincias”
By Hillary Harder During the Service term, leaders have the privilege of traveling to visit each student at the home and volunteer assignment where they are spending their time during the second half of SST. For us, that meant traveling…