From Being Green To Leading Green

Sustainable Summer prepares today’s teens to become environmental leaders.

What is an environmental leadership program? Sustainable Summer is a unique learning experience designed to prepare today’s high school students to become tomorrow’s environmental leaders. Our programs combine environmental education in remarkable places – such as an organic farm in Costa Rica or Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest — with leadership development and outdoor adventure. Our mission is to cultivate the next generation of environmental leaders though transformative study abroad experiences and field-based learning.


[singlepic id=408 w= h= ]

Our Students

Our programs are specifically designed for students  interested in sustainability. Some students are focused on ecology and science; others on humanitarian or policy issues, but all are future environmental leaders. A diverse, motivated, and intellectually curious group of students is at the heart of every Sustainable Summer program. Learn More

Our Approach

We use sustainability as a framework for understanding the experience of living and traveling in a developing country. Our programs feature expert-led workshops and discussions on environmental issues and a structured academic curriculum built around our five core principles of sustainability immersion, global perspective, leadership development, environmental study, and active learning. Learn More

[singlepic id=192 w= h= ]

[singlepic id=148 w= h= ]

Our Value

We work hard to run a top quality program as efficiently as possible so that your tuition dollars are spent where they matter most: on your summer experience. We keep our overhead costs low, and as a non-profit organization, we manage our expenses to a break-even budget, instead of generating a profit. Our “student’s first” approach delivers unparalleled value in the education travel field. Learn More


Our Programs

We run study abroad programs that teach high school students about environmental sustainability. We take an interdisciplinary approach that draws on academic concepts from the natural and social sciences to frame the study abroad experience, which enhances students’ understanding of sustainability while developing their capacity as future environmental leaders. For Summer 2014, we will be running programs in Costa Rica, the Amazon, Ecuador’s Coast & Highlands, and the Galapagos.

Sustainable Summer is an exciting alternative to a service learning or adventure travel program for any high school student interested in environmental issues, ecology, food and agriculture, renewable energy, natural resource management, biodiversity and wildlife conservation, development economics, social justice, and global issues.

[pl_button type=”inverse” link=”/destinations/”] Compare Programs [/pl_button]

Our Story

We founded Sustainable Summer because we believe sustainability should be a central theme in every young person’s education. After many years of working in the fields of study abroad and experiential education, we believed teenagers needed an opportunity to explore this critical issue in a direct and substantial way. Our personal experiences living, studying and traveling in places like Ecuador and Costa Rica helped us realize these developing countries provide an ideal backdrop to consider sustainability from various angles: environmental, economic, and cultural. Sustainability is a topic that is relevant to everyone, but it will be of particular significance to today’s youth as they reach adulthood. We hope you will consider joining us this summer to experience a unique and engaging approach to educating for sustainability.Learn More.

– Jeff Sharpe & Anne Fenton, Co-Founders, Sustainable Summer

[ngg_images gallery_ids=”13″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_thumbnail_grid”]