About LEAPNOW and "Transforming Education"
International Education | Transforming Education | International and Domestic Study Programs | Student Internship
WHY LEAPNOW
The times we live in demand a new kind of education. This
need is described eloquently by Bill Plotkin, in his book
Soulcraft:
"Contemporary society has lost touch with soul and the path to psychological and spiritual maturity, or true adulthood. Instead, we are encouraged to create lives of predictable security, false normality, material comfort, bland entertainment, and the illusion of eternal youth. Most of our leaders - political, cultural and economic - represent and defend a non-sustainable way of life built upon military aggression, the control and exploitation of nature's "resources," and an entitled sense of national security that ignores the needs of other species, other nations, tribes, and races, and our own future generations. These value do not reflect our deeper human nature. Successful navigation of this most perilous time in human history requires psychologically and spiritually mature men and women who can engender a mature human species."
LEAPNOW’s purpose is to offer transforming educational programs. So rather than just taking you to another country or on an adventure, our programs help develop the whole person and lead you toward psychological and spiritual maturity - or true adulthood. To do less, in these times, would be an abdication of responsibility. LEAPNOW aspires to keep our programs on the cutting edge of human evolution. We feel that we can have the most positive impact on the world by working in the area of education – which ideally is concerned with transforming and expanding the consciousness of our students.
LEAPNOW is unique in that our programs bring together three things that aren't usually found together, but which we feel shouldn't be separated:
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A focus on the inner person. The quality of our relationship with ourself determines the quality of our outer relationships, and provides depth in our life. Our Self - body, mind, spirit, emotions, personality - are the context in which we live our lives. It makes sense to know our Self well, or.....the unexamined life is not worth living.
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The World - Planet Earth. This planet is the outer context for this human journey. LEAPNOW gives you unparalled access to the world, through an amazing database of over 6,000 internships and learning opportunities in the U.S. and 126 other countries. Learning from real life experience in a time when our experiences become more virtual.
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Academic Credit. High School and College Credit are available for all of our programs.
STUDY EXPERIENCES, LEARNING ABOUT OURSELVES AND THE WORLD
LEAPNOW provides students with access to
thousands of diverse international and domestic learning experiences in 126 countries, and
offers transformational teachings that give students the
opportunity to empower themselves to “be the change that you
wish to see in the world (Gandhi).” Cultural immersion,
study
abroad
and work abroad are our main vehicles for learning about
ourselves and the world. Intense work and study experiences
abroad are complemented with contemplative learning retreats
at
our northern California campus that serve to teach students how
to wholeheartedly participate in the world and live passionately
without leaving any parts of themselves out - mind, body,
spirit, soul, emotion, etc. We call this way of learning,
“Transforming Education.”
TRANSFORMING EDUCATION IS DESIGNED TO:
- Be an antidote to problems that afflict us in the
postmodern world: indifference, ironic detachment, political
impotence, virtual reality, and the mistaken conviction that true power
lies somewhere outside of ourselves
- Reawaken the learner who has often been lulled
into a trance by sitting passively for many years in classroom,
and keep us learning in ways that are “juicy” and inherently
meaningful to us.
- Help us find the creative source within so that we
can remember and fulfill our life purpose.
- Affirm the basic underlying unity of life and the
wholeness of the individual – breaking down boundaries within
one’self and between nations or cultures.
- Remind us that the “winged life” is within reach of anyone who is willing to do the work of re-imagining their life
THE LEAPNOW ORGANIZATION and OPPORTUNITIES
To these ends we give our primary focus to our LEAPYEAR, Deeper Waters,
Ring of Fire and One Revolution programs and to volunteer internships that support
organizations making a difference in the world.
LEAPNOW was founded in 1994. A dedicated staff of 8 bring decades of experience to our daily goal of providing learning experiences that astonish. The amazing LEAPNOW Advisory Board keeps us inspired and focused.
As of the summer of 2009, we have placed over 1,600 people in service and environmental internships abroad, sent 57 guided groups of young people to Central America, South America, India, and Australia/New Zealand/Fiji, and run 14 cycles of our LEAPYEAR program. Our students have given over 622,000 hours of their time to service, environmental, medical and wildlife organizations around the planet.
FURTHER LEAPNOW PROGRAMS FOR STUDENTS ON THE HORIZON
LEAPNOW has developed the Deeper Waters program, which extends our LEAPYEAR
program to a 2-year Associates
Degree We are also in the
process of creating a non-profit arm that will raise
scholarship monies for our programs to increase diversity and access, and
formalize partnerships that we have with non-profits doing
service and environmental work abroad.