SPRING 2027
Medellín and Cartagena. A country reframing its own story.
Past cohorts have traveled to Japan, Italy, Spain, Belize, and the Dominican Republic. Spring 2027 takes the next cohort to Colombia.
THE DESTINATION
When most people hear "Colombia," they think cartels and violence. The students in this cohort will study a different Colombia. Medellín, once the most dangerous city in the world, transformed itself through urban innovation. Cable cars connecting hillside neighborhoods to the city center. Public libraries built in the most violent comunas. Music and art programs that quietly redirected a generation.
In Cartagena, students visit San Basilio de Palenque, the first town of free Africans in the Americas, where ancestral memory still shapes daily life.
Students study how a city rebuilds itself. Then they go home to ask what their own city could become.
THE WEDGE
Medellín is the proof of concept.
A "wedge" is a direct, sustainable solution built to fix a specific neighborhood problem: turning a flooded lot into a climate-resilient green space, or a solar-powered hub addressing local safety. It's how our youth use urban design to drive a stake into systemic issues and reclaim their blocks.
BEFORE
In the 1990s, Medellín had a homicide rate of 381 per 100,000 people. Hillside comunas were isolated from economic opportunity. The city had written off entire neighborhoods.
AFTER
Cable cars connected isolated hillside communities to the city center. Public libraries opened in the most violent neighborhoods. Homicide rates dropped by more than 95%. The city didn't erase its history. It built on top of it.
GLE students study the mechanics of that shift. They visit the cable car stations, the libraries, the comunas. Then they return home and ask: what is our city's Wedge?
See the full program →THE PROGRAM
Six weeks of virtual preparation. Cultural intelligence, travel logistics, identity work, cohort bonding. Students land in Colombia as informed ambassadors, not curious tourists.
One week in Colombia. Site visits, community exchanges, daily reflection circles. The world is the textbook.
Five weeks at home. Students design and present an Impact Pitch: a project that brings what they learned to their own neighborhood.
THE CURRICULUM
Students choose the arc that fits how they see the world.
GLE runs two parallel learning arcs through all three phases of the program. Both develop the same core competencies: Global Identity, Agency, and Cultural Experience. The difference is the lens.
THE GENERAL ARC
Students examine global systems, international institutions, and cultural intelligence. They develop the ability to navigate existing structures and enact change from within.
THE LIBERATORY ARC
Students examine identity through diaspora, migration, and indigeneity. They develop the tools to disrupt inequitable systems and lead from lived experience.
Both arcs culminate in a shared Impact Pitch where students apply their specific tools to a single global challenge.
WHAT STUDENTS GAIN
The fluency to move between worlds without losing yourself.
Reading systems quickly and proposing what fits.
A clearer line from where you stand to where you're going.
The proof that you can do hard things in unfamiliar places.
A felt responsibility to your own community, sharpened.
PAST COHORTS
Every cohort. A different classroom. The same transformation.
Ready to be part of the 2027 cohort?
