Port Townsend High School students spend summer break in different ways. Some use the time to get summer jobs working for local businesses. Others work as counselors at summer camps, do volunteer work, or take on an internship. Some might take a trip with their families. Such trips allow students to learn new things, go outside their comfort zones, and make meaningful and important memories that will stay with them their entire lives.

For me, one trip has stood apart — a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Central American country of Honduras with Operation Wallacea (Opwall). It is an expedition I came away from convinced it has something for every student — no matter their interests.

Opwall is a British organization that offers the opportunity for students over 16 to travel to various countries around the world to get hands-on experience with scientific field research and exposure to unique cultural perspectives. During these trips, students spend one week at a terrestrial site shadowing scientists, helping them gather data for projects about biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and more. The second week of the expedition is spent on the Caribbean island of Utila off the coastline of Honduras. 

On the Honduras expedition, students spend their first week in Cusuco National Park, shadowing each scientist, helping them with their transects, collecting data, and learning. The students go on a variety of surveys ranging from night-time herpetology transects, 5:00am mist-netting for birds, and scrambling over rugged terrain looking for any fungi they can find. Every day the students go on three surveys with the scientists. Whether it be capturing venomous snakes or small bats, the students can expect to always learn new things every time they go out on a transect. 

All of the Opwall staff are very welcoming and open as well. They are very willing to answer any questions or just talk about their careers and work, both during mealtimes and during the surveys themselves. Students can learn just as much from having dinner with the scientists and talking to them as they can during a lecture or in the field. 

During the second week of this two-week expedition the students travel to a marine site, where they either spend the week getting their open-water diving certification or, if already certified, participate in a reef ecology course. Through this course, students are given lessons in the classroom, as well as real hands-on experience through transect dives trying to measure effects of coral bleaching. The already-qualified divers are taken on two dives a day. Each dive is centered around a different type of survey, such as taking underwater transects, or data on fish and coral diversity.

The students also get the opportunity to make cultural connections as well. For example, one of the days the students make the eight- mile round-trip trek down the mountain that is home to Cusuco to the nearest town, Buenos Aires. There they are taught how to make coffee from shade grown coffee plants by a woman who has made coffee on the land for generations. Opwall employs all of its cooks, guides, and other nonscientist staff from the local community of Buenos Aires.

The trip would not be as impactful if it weren’t for the staff. Even though most of the guides or cooks don’t speak English, they are all ready to share information about their home. Many of the guides bridge the language gap by pointing out interesting plants and animals, even if they don’t know the English names. 

One of Opwall’s main missions is to give back to the local community; almost everything they do provides vital revenue for the people of the area. They not only go out of their way to hire local people, but to also find ways to teach and involve the community. They base one activity in the school in Buenos Aires, where visiting students stay in local houses and help boost the town’s economy. And, we pay our way: The cost of the two-week educational expedition for visiting students is $2,100 in 2025.

It’s worth it. This trip broadens the horizons for the visiting students who participate, provides hands-on field experiences for those contemplating going into the biological sciences, pushes students out of their comfort zones, and gives unique cultural experiences that cannot be found anywhere else. This trip is good whether someone wants to become a scientist one day, or anyone who just wants an adventure, and to try new things. It’s a trip designed for people who also want to learn more about Latin American culture or improve their Spanish.

The Honduras expedition was a life changing experience for me and I think it will be that powerful for anyone who signs up.