Georgia-Cumberland Academy (GCA) is committed to providing students with a whole person education, one that cultivates each student’s spiritual, social, emotional, physical, and academic development. A boarding school environment lends itself to this type of educational environment with its wide variety of extracurricular activities, including mission trips and study tours.
Every March, GCA takes students on an international mission trip and study tour. This year the mission trip was to Brazil, and the study tour went to Japan. The mission group assisted Global Thinkers Now, an Adventist missionary couple working in the Amazon, with building a boardwalk for the mission house, a wall around a local church, conducting Vacation Bible School, and providing dental care to the community. The international study tour went to Japan and immersed themselves in Japanese culture, including visiting Buddhist temples, reflecting on the history of Hiroshima, and seeing the beauty of Mount Fuji.
Shelby Miller, a senior who asked to be baptized in the Amazon this year, has been on three mission trips during her time at GCA. “Every time I come back from a trip, I am more thankful for what I have. The people from the church had been praying for 15 years for a wall to protect their property, and we were able to build it in a week and a half. Seeing how big of a difference we can make in their lives is really meaningful.”
Mission trips are a great opportunity for spiritual growth. “I think mission trips create spiritually fertile ground. The experience of traveling, working, sweating, worshiping, and serving together opens up students in ways that regular life often doesn’t allow,” said Josh Woods, GCA chaplain. “These trips help students see the world through God’s eyes.”
In a similar way, study tours help students to see the similarities and uniqueness of other people groups and that all are God’s children. “I love how international study tours offer our students an opportunity to build on their academic understanding while expanding their worldview. The experiences on these trips create empathy, curiosity, and insight in a way no classroom can,” said Serge Gariepy, GCA principal.
“I think it’s always good to see how the rest of the world functions,” said Aidan Paez, a senior at GCA. “It was interesting learning about their religions. We were learning in real time about world religions, and not just through a textbook.”
Georgia-Cumberland | July 2025
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