Apply Now
Find a Program
Filter and search programs:
» Program FinderProgram Types
Service Exploration Career LanguageView more on goprecollege.com:
↗ Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Youth Summits ↗ Oxford Academia ↗ Pre-CollegeHigh School
Career
Barcelona Belize Germany & Sweden Ireland Italy Peru SwitzerlandExploration
Australia, New Zealand, & Fiji Bhutan Croatia Faroe Islands & Iceland Italy & Greece Japan Kilimanjaro Patagonia: Skiing Switzerland, Italy, France, & HollandService
Argentina Costa Rica Ecuador & the Galápagos Fiji Hawaii India Laos Morocco Peru Puerto Rico Tanzania Thailand VietnamLanguage
Ecuador & the Galápagos France SpainView more on goprecollege.com:
↗ Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Youth Summits ↗ Oxford Academia ↗ Pre-CollegeMiddle School
Service
Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador & the GalápagosExploration
France & Holland Hawaii IcelandLanguage
France SpainAbout
Our Programs
Find a Program Admission Details Safety & Risk Management Scholarship Opportunities F.A.Q.About Us
Welcome Our History Why Choose Putney? Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Sustainability Meet The Team Visit Our BlogOur Collaborations
Smithsonian Student Travel National Geographic Student Travel Columbia Climate School Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Putney Open Door Fund Custom ProgramsLeadership
Our Leaders Leader Bios Apply to LeadNext Steps
Apply Now & Login
Read our Coronavirus FAQ
- High School
- Service
IndiaEducation & Energy in the Himalaya
Travel to Ladakh, India, this summer and immerse yourself in a Himalayan community, joining in daily life and collaborating on education and environmental projects. Support young Ladakhis at the community school as they prepare for college entrance exams, help harvest food from the organic farm, cook meals, and learn about climate change as you help maintain the school’s extensive solar energy system. Take an excursion to the bustling trade town of Leh on the Silk Road, visit Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, and meet snow leopard conservationists. Travel to a village nestled in a Himalayan valley lined with apricot trees and barley fields to work alongside community members to build a passive solar community resource center.
Details
Highlights
- Collaborate to build a passive solar building in a Himalayan village
- Observe sacred rituals in ancient Buddhist monasteries
- Learn traditional Ladakhi songs and cook meals with Ladakhi students
- Witness the golden light of sunrise on the majestic Taj Mahal
Itinerary
This itinerary represents our best projection of the group’s schedule. However, we may implement changes designed to improve the quality of the program.
- Departure
- Travel Day
Meet your fellow high school student travelers and one of your leaders in Newark and fly together to New Delhi, India. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
- New Delhi
- 1 Day
Begin in India’s capital city with a program orientation. Get to know your group, learn about key moments and figures in Indian history, and develop an appreciation for the fascinating complexities of Indian society today. Explore some of New Delhi’s iconic monuments such as Humayun’s Tomb, the Lotus Temple, or the Qutub Minar tower. Then visit a clothing shop specializing in handmade garments made from sustainably sourced materials. Outfit yourself in comfortable and culturally appropriate Indian clothing for your stay in the service village.
- Phey, Ladakh
- 7 Days
Fly from Delhi to Ladakh, situated high on the Tibetan plateau in the Himalayan mountains. Rising out of India’s northernmost region, the Himalayas are a vast stretch of craggy passes and snow-covered mountains, home to Mount Everest, Earth’s highest mountain above sea level. Near the lively trade town of Leh, where whitewashed houses are nestled in a lush valley ringed by jagged peaks and fluttering prayer flags, acclimatize to the altitude (11,500 feet) at a vibrant community school. Help young Ladakhis prepare for college entrance exams and join in their daily routine—cooking meals, tending sustainable gardens, and helping the school maintain its solar energy system. Get to know the students while discussing current affairs and exchanging cultural traditions. Throughout the week, take part in excursions to Buddhist monasteries, learn about renewable energy projects with local conservationists, and visit organizations that promote sustainable development. Share a final farewell dance party and make delicious mok moks (traditional dumplings) together.
- Rural Village Service Project
- 9 Days
Set out for a rural village nestled deep in a mountain valley. Stay in warm homestays with local families and several of your group members, and work alongside community members to form earth bricks for constructing a passive solar community resource center that will benefit the village for years to come. Learn about climate change and community resilience as you repair traditional irrigation canals, harvest food for your meals, and hike around the valley to enjoy the rugged Himalayan vistas.
- Leh
- 2 Days
After saying goodbye and celebrating with your new friends in the host village, travel back to the bustling town of Leh—the joint capital and largest city in Ladakh—to take in the ancient architecture, labyrinthine bazaar, and towering palaces. Indulge in a group dinner of Ladakhi cuisine under the stars.
- New Delhi
- 1 Day
Return to Delhi, visit iconic historical sites and craft museums and do some final shopping in the bazaars and markets.
- Agra
- 1 Day
Spend the final night of your program in Agra. Enjoy a celebratory meal with your group and reflect on your shared experiences in India. Cap your journey with a sunrise visit to the majestic Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and watch how its white marble exterior changes color depending on the time of day.
- Return
- Travel Day
Fly with your group and a leader from New Delhi, India, to Newark, then continue on to your final destination. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
A Day in the Life: Host Village
- Due to the traveling nature of this student program abroad, each day is different. Here is a snapshot of a day in the host village.
- Eat breakfast together as a group
- Work on service projects like building with earth bricks, harvesting vegetables, and repairing water canals
- Break for a long lunch and rest time
- Continue on your service projects
- Prepare dinner with host families, play traditional games, learn a craft, or relax under an apricot tree
- Enjoy dinner together as a group
- Group meeting to discuss the day and upcoming schedule
What to Expect
- Service
During your travels in India, you can expect to participate in several different volunteer service projects—construction projects where you may learn to construct a passive solar community building, environmental projects such as harvesting crops or shadowing local farmers, and educational projects such as helping local high school students in preparation for their exams. All students participate in each of the group’s projects on a rotating basis, and everyone lends a hand in meal preparation and cleanup. The focus of this summer program in India is learning about another culture by forming meaningful relationships with local people and undertaking a shared community service experience together. You should come to the summer with an open mind, eager to participate in new experiences and interested in exploring another culture and way of life. To learn more about our Service programs, click here.
- Independent Project
Pursue an independent project and explore an aspect of local culture of particular interest to you—religion, gender roles, cultural events, local folklore, music, or the function of the local political structure or education system.
- Physical Activity
This is a physically active summer travel program. You can expect to work on service projects, play with local youth, explore our host community on foot, go on hikes, play a pick-up game of frisbee, or prepare our group’s meals. You do not need to be at peak fitness to participate, but it is important that you have a desire to be physically active, and that you are excited about trying all activities.
- Altitude
This program visits high altitude destinations—Phey is approximately 10,500 feet above sea level, and our host village is closer to 11,500 feet.
- Accommodations
At the school, we stay in dormitory-style rooms with other group members in passive solar buildings designed to stay cool during the day and warm at night. In our host village, we stay in ancient whitewashed homes. The small and picturesque village is the home of the descendants of families that moved in generations ago. While some of the buildings show the effects of their age, they retain a warm and inviting presence. In New Delhi and Agra, we stay in small but very comfortable hotels. Leaders reside in the same residences with the students throughout the program.
- Meals
While at the school, students work in cooking crews along with our hosts and lend a hand with preparing traditional Ladakhi dishes. They also assist the host community families with cooking while at the village. During excursions, we eat at restaurants that feature delicious Indian cuisine.
Next Steps
This program is directed by Julian Hartmann-Russell. If you have questions or would like to talk further about this program, please get in touch!
Trivik Verma Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), PhD, Human Mobility Technical; University of Delft, M.S., Complex Systems; Manipal University, B.E., Computer Science
After finishing his dissertation at ETH Zurich on understanding global human mobility patterns, Trivik went on a self-supported filmmaking expedition to Ladakh, India, with National Geographic Young Explorer Tyler Wilkinson Ray. Together, they reported on a tribe of ultrarunners who deliver mail to the remotest parts of the Himalayan desert on foot. In addition to research in India and Europe, Trivik spent many years pursuing expedition climbing and photographing and later returned home to India to direct his passion for adventure photography, anthropology, and science into a technology-driven startup dedicated to sustainable travel and authentic journalism. He is now a Professor of Urban Policy at the Policy Analysis Institute of Delft University, The Netherlands, where he teaches and researches urban inequalities and citizen participation in decision making. Some of his work has been published in Nature and featured in MIT Technology Review and The Telegraph. He has led multiple Putney programs to the Canadian Arctic, Namibia, and India, and has traveled to many countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and America for climbing, snowboarding, skydiving, and freediving.
Soumya Nadabar North Carolina State University, B.A. International Studies, B.A. Economics
While at North Carolina State University, Soumya focused on gender, environmental justice, and human rights in a global context and spent time learning, studying, and working in Guatemala, Ecuador, southeastern North Carolina, and India. In India, Soumya interned at a community development NGO and worked on an international team to establish two life-skills education centers for marginalized young women in rural villages. After graduating, Soumya lived in northern India teaching English on a Fulbright fellowship, where she built relationships with her students and community members and learned Hindi. During this time, she traveled throughout India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam, soaking in everything from Buddhist culture to traditional cuisine to Himalayan mountains. Following this, Soumya led a National Geographic Student Expedition to India and then returned to the U.S. for an AmeriCorps VISTA position in Portland, Oregon, where she served a nonprofit that made immersive international education accessible to low-income, first-generation college students. Soumya now leads semester programs for a gap year organization based in Portland, where she most recently spent six months in Guatemala and Costa Rica. She also works as a field instructor for NOLS teaching wilderness courses in Alaska and Wyoming, and mentors college students seeking ethical global engagement through Omprakash. Wherever Soumya travels or recreates, she hopes to develop authentic, reciprocal relationships with the community and the land. She is passionate about collective liberation and the power of embodied learning and hopes to unite the two by making experiential education a catalyst for personal growth, activism, and advocacy. Soumya is fluent in English, has heritage fluency in Spanish, and is conversational in Hindi. In her free time, she likes to read, climb, adventure, dance, and practice mindfulness.
Julian Hartmann-Russell
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, B.A., Geography, M.S., Geography
Julian’s passion for travel started at age 13, when he began an ongoing cultural exchange with a family in France. After studying in Montreal and traveling extensively in Europe and Latin America, Julian taught French and Spanish at a social justice-focused high school, where he also developed youth leadership and international education programs. Julian has led high school, gap year, and university programs across Central and South America and in Puerto Rico, Québec, Hawaii, and Iceland. Julian coordinates Putney programs in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru. In his spare time he enjoys tacos, documentary films, the radio, biking, strumming his baritone ukulele, cooking, and adventuring in New England.
