Menlo students who went on the India trip last summer participate in an evening prayer service. This year, Menlo Abroad is facing low enrollment. Photo courtesy of: Pete Zivkov.

By Kaitlyn Tom

Over the past couple of years, Menlo Abroad, a program that allows students to spend a portion of their summer experiencing different cultures through travel, has progressed to become a strong program where students have experienced a broad range of cultures. However, this year Menlo Abroad is facing low enrollment.

There are a few reasons why there is a lower enrollment this year as opposed to other years.

In order to go on a Menlo Abroad trip, students must take the Stamp Your Passport Knight school course. “I think that […] for some students, the end of Knight school has played a role in their decisions about Menlo Abroad,” Global Programs and Studies Coordinator Peter Brown said.

Students who have gone on a Menlo Abroad trip think that the trips may have been reviewed poorly by previous students. “The people who went [in past years] weren’t too excited about the conditions of the area, so […] they made it sound a lot worse than it actually was,” junior Remy Tai, who went on the India trip last summer, said.

To recruit more students to enroll in Menlo Abroad, the program has put in a series of informational lunches and meetings. “We’ve had a couple of lunches […] for students who are interested. […] We have brochures, [and] we have last summer’s blogs,” Brown said.

Despite the low enrollment, the leaders of the program are confident that the Menlo Abroad program will still continue to succeed this summer. “We’re not dissuaded. It’s not unusual for trips to be enrolled much later. We’re going to do fine,” Brown said. “It’s a challenge; it’s an adventure — most students find it to be an amazing adventure.”

“I came back believing in myself a lot more and also thinking that I could handle a bunch of challenges that were in my way. […] Give me a pit toilet and I would be fine,” junior Meena Karamcheti, who went on the Menlo Abroad trip to India last summer, said.

An information session about Menlo Abroad will be held in Martin Family Hall from 8:30 to 9:30 on Nov 14.