The Volunteer Abroad Program

Purpose and Mission Statement

The EGL Volunteer Abroad (VA) Program is a 1 to 2 week culturally immersive experience every August where EGLs are exposed to a new culture while doing volunteer work either domestically or internationally. VA’s mission is to have EGLs learn from the non-profit organizations we work with, meet people from around the country, and fully immerse ourselves in a new place while making an impact, either big or small. 

Through navigating ambiguous situations globally, VA's purpose is achieved by gaining cross-cultural skills that help us in both our personal and professional lives. The experience ties into three of EGL's pillars – leadership development, global education, and engineering excellence.

History

VA started in 2007 with eight students traveling to the Galapagos Islands to help preserve their indigenous and endemic flora and fauna. The program grew from there and in 2009, EGL Volunteer Abroad expanded its mission to reach beyond environmental work. That year ten EGLs aided Guatemalans in the rural community of Xela by improving radio communications to reach them. The radio was incredibly important as it was the primary means for the Xela community to connect with the rest of the world and hear about current events, specifically the political unrest going on in Guatemala at the time.

VA has continued to grow in size and scale as more students each year have traveled outside the United States to serve and learn from other communities. Our more recent trips (2018 and 2019) include building the foundation of a temple on the Indonesian island of Bali, cleaning and cooking at a food kitchen in District 13 of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, working on a home construction and renovation project in Lisbon, Portugal, and preserving the incredible biodiversity in the Panthera Sanctuary in Peru.

This past August (2024), EGL set a record for VA involvement, sending 44 students to four different projects across three different continents. We volunteered with Playa Tortuga in Costa Rica, La Hesperia in Ecuador, Papahana Kuaola in Hawaii, and CAPE RADD in South Africa.

Read more about our experiences through the VA Blogs!

Watch the videos from the 2023 trips here.