By Jamie Holloman • The Journal News • July 15, 2008
LARCHMONT - For their senior year of high school, David Haas and Zak Gumpel went international. "In the beginning we were set on going anywhere in the world," said Gumpel, 18. "We ended up with Chile because it's pretty much one of the most westernized countries in South America and one great country overall."
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The former Mamaroneck High School students set up their study abroad through Chilean Adventures, an alternative education program in Chile.
Chilean Adventures created a program for Haas and Gumpel that allowed them to kayak down famous Chilean rivers, hike up dormant and active volcanoes, and practice their Spanish in the Chilean village they were living in. During the trip the teens lived with Chilean host families.
Chilean Adventures offers semester-long programs for high school and college students interested in a different educational experience. Todd Ericson, the programs coordinator of Chilean Adventures, worked with Haas and Gumpel to put together a yearlong program. The program consisted of two semesters plus a Chilean "summer service" program during the months of January and February. During those two months, the boys worked with the locals of Los Queñes, a Chilean mountain town in the Andes, in an effort to improve waste management for the town.
The yearlong program costs participants about $24,900 each.
While in Chile, Haas and Gumpel still had to fulfill the educational requirements necessary for a high school student.
"It was tough at the beginning, because me and David had never spoken Spanish before, but slowly we were immersed," Gumpel said. "I got to kayak, I got to go horseback riding, and I got to see awesome things. I lived on my own and really enjoyed the experience."
The two began their senior year in Curico, a small town 15 kilometers west of the Argentina border. In Curico, they attended classes with Chilean students and practiced Spanish in the town's marketplace.
Asked what skills he learned that he might not have gotten back home, Gumpel said, "Kayaking, fluid conversational Spanish, hiking skills, rafting skills, first aid. Being able to strike up conversation with strangers easily. Most importantly, the skill of knowing, in the globalized world we live in today, you can plant your dream literally wherever you would like.
"I now look at the world as my backyard," he said. "I have learned anything is possible. There's much a small town near the city filled with commuters and kids with money can teach you, but about the meaning of existence, passion and love there is a fine line that divides Larchmont and adventuring South America."
Gumpel will head back to Chile on July 24 for a third semester, and after that he plans to either head to California or attend Franklin College in Switzerland.
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