Student Service Projects Make Environmental Impact

By Elisabet Raquel Garcia| February, 22 2023

The awe-dropping views of beautiful landscapes take our breath away when we travel and provide us with experiences that impact us forever. So, why shouldn’t we strive to reciprocate that impact? 

One way that Offbeat Travel likes to contribute to a positive impact on the places that we visit is by incorporating environmental community impact projects into our student travel programming. Offbeat partners with organizations like Plan Yaque and FUNDEMAR in the Dominican Republic to create a reciprocal and responsible travel experience for our students. 

“My favorite part of supporting the students on these projects was hearing them share how much this program was impacting their life just as much as it was impacting the life of the community members they were in service of.”

- Miquea, Program Leader 

Environmental Impact Projects with Plan Yaque 

Plan Yaque is an environmental non-profit organization based in the mountainous region of Jarabacoa. Plan Yaque supports the sustainable development of the Yaque del Norte river basin. The Río Yaque is the largest running river in the Dominican Republic and the longest in the Caribbean.. The river is a natural resource that poses both help and harm to local communities. The Río Yaque runs across throughout the Santiago region, flowing fresh water down the mountain  to the sea. 

There is an abundance of water in the river, which unfortunately many communities don’t have ready access to due to lack of proper infrastructure. In addition to this, the river is host to many contaminants like solid waste. What’s worse is that when the river rises, local communities are posed with the risk of becoming flooded. 

All of these issues are reasons why Plan Yaque has decided to better the conditions of the river for its surrounding communities. Plan Yaque teams up with Offbeat Travel to bring students on service-learning projects such as building aqueducts and black water treatment systems that tackle the socio-environmental risks posed by the conditions of Río Yaque. 

Pamela, a local Offbeat Program Leader, guided her program of students in a project in the community of Las Caobas in Jarabacoa. Over the course of three days, they built an aqueduct  that helps the people who live in this community receive running water into their homes. 

She says that the student’s favorite part was “seeing the aqueduct finished and functioning knowing that the community would be able to take care of the maintenance and upkeep of the aqueduct as necessary”.

Coastal Environmental Impact Projects with FUNDEMAR

FUNDEMAR, the Dominican Foundation for Marine Studies, is a non-profit organization based out of Bayahibe that is dedicated to the conservation of sea and marine life. In the 1980s, coral reefs in this region suffered a 97% decrease due to a plague that nearly wiped out this essential ecosystem.

In 2011, the organization began collaborating with student service programs like Offbeat Travel.  Since then FUNDEMAR has been able to oversee projects that have contributed to the growth off 3,000 meters of coral growing through processes like coral gardening and assisted fertilization. 

Each year FUNDEMAR receives over 100 students who collaborate on projects like coral reef conservation and recording marine mammal sightings. The partnership that FUNDEMAR has with programs like Offbeat Travel is what helps fund these sustainability and restoration projects. 

Carlos is one of Offbeat’s local programs leaders who has guides students in collaboration with FUNDEMAR. The programming he guides them on includes constructing hundreds of small cement structures (coral cookies) to place the corals onto and artificially plant reefs. 

In addition to this, students also assist FUNDEMAR in recording marine life sightings while scuba diving and snorkeling, which Carlos reports being the students favorite part of the program with FUNDEMAR. This isn’t just the student’s favorite part, but it’s the coordinators too, as it’s the most impactful part of the trip for everyone involved.

“My favorite part of this work is coordinating the snorkeling outings and marine-mammal sightings because these activities are ones where we get to show students what nature is really made of, the harm that its receiving, and how we can help.” 

- Andreina, FUNDEMAR Coordinator 

Cultivating Environmental Impact From Land to Sea with Offbeat Travel’s Student Service Projects

The wonders of nature we take in when we travel is what opens our eyes and leaves a lasting impression on our hearts forever. That’s why Offbeat believes that we should have a reciprocal relationship with the lands that we visit. 

And that’s the reason Offbeat partners with local non-profit organizations like Plan Yaque and FUNDEMAR to provide hands-on experience on service projects where sustainability and environmental impact is at the heart of the program. 

The students love it and the local communities impacted by the nature around it love having them, too.