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Centers of Human Excellence Global programming

Global Education Programming
at the Hyde Center

What the Center for Global Education Offers

The Center for Global Education offers BC High students service immersion trips, cultural exchanges, language programming, a global speaker series, and a formal Global Certificate pathway.

In 2025-26, nearly 30% of BC High's student body participated in Hyde Center travel, academic, language, and guest lecturer programming. One hundred fifty-five students traveled on an international or domestic trip, with 78 receiving financial aid.

BC High's center for global education

What Your Son Will Gain

Students who engage with the Center for Global Education graduate with more than passport stamps. They leave with skills and perspectives that carry directly into college and adult life.

Empathy and Openness to Growth
Intercultural Communication and Fluency
Genuine Care for the Common Home
Confidence and Independence from Immersive Travel
Friendships with Students from BC High and Partner Schools Around the World
Language Proficiency and Global Academic Credentials

Why Global Education at BC High Is Different

The Center is built around a conviction that Lawrence H. Hyde '42 held his entire life: experiencing the world alongside others changes a young man in ways that no classroom can replicate. Students leave BC High with empathy, intercultural fluency, and the confidence to engage with a world that looks very different from their own neighborhood.

For families evaluating Catholic schools in Boston or private schools in Greater Boston, the breadth and depth of the Global Education Center's programming sets BC High apart. And for families whose son has never traveled internationally, no prior travel experience is required. The Center supports families through every practical question, from cost to logistics to what hosting an exchange student actually looks like day to day.

Global Education at BC High

One question families often ask is what "global education" actually means at BC High.

In Jenny Ehalt's own words: every student has an opportunity to engage with the Center, whether through travel, global programming like speakers and field trips, or embracing and learning about other cultures and perspectives right here on campus. Together, these experiences help students build empathy and inspire them to take meaningful steps toward social, environmental, and economic change for the greater good.

No matter where a student ends up going, he will need to understand and work alongside people whose lives look different from his own. The Center for Global Education at one of the leading private high schools in Boston builds that capacity across six years of formation.

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A Message From Our Director

Welcome to BC High and the Center for Global Education. We hope that every student has an opportunity to engage with us, whether through travel, global programming like speakers and field trips, or embracing and learning about other cultures and perspectives right here on campus. Together, these experiences help our students build empathy and inspire them to take meaningful steps toward social, environmental, and economic change for the greater good.

— Jenny Ehalt, Director, Lawrence H. Hyde ’42 Center for Global Education

Programming Through the Years

Arrupe Division

Global education at this Jesuit, Catholic school in Boston begins before high school. Two programs in the Arrupe Division introduce students to the Center for Global Education’s mission early.

A student club focused on global perspectives, pen pal opportunities with schools around the world, and engagement with exchange students when visiting partners are on campus. Open to 7th and 8th graders.

Takeaway: The world is bigger than my neighborhood, and I can start engaging with it now.

BC High's Center for Global Education begins accompanying students from their first year. Grade 6 programming is currently in development, and we're designing experiences that introduce students to global citizenship from day one. Stay tuned for updates as we build out this next chapter of the BC High experience.

High School Division

High school students interested in international and immersive travel have the opportunity to participate, though travel is never a required component of any programming. 

Those who choose to travel are supported through a structured pre-trip process: at minimum, every student traveler meets with adult trip leaders four times before departure. The Center also works individually with families throughout the entire process, from financial aid conversations to pre-departure preparation. A parent and guardian meeting is held before every trip.

Students who travel with the Center may have the opportunity to return in a leadership capacity, deepening their experience and giving back to the community they've helped build.

All trip descriptions and destination details are available on the main Center for Global Education page.

Students live and work alongside the communities they serve, building genuine relationships with the people they work with and carrying that experience home.

Service immersion destinations include Belize, Brownsville TX, Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Vietnam.

Domestic service immersion trips are offered in partnership with the McNeice Center for Ignatian Identity and Formation.

Takeaway: Service changes me as much as it changes the places I go.

BC High's exchange programs are built on a reciprocal model. Students host a visiting student from a partner Jesuit school before traveling to stay with that same student abroad, attending classes and living as a local.

Exchange destinations include Argentina (Colegio del Salvador), France (Lycée Saint-Marc), and Ireland (Belvedere College SJ).

In 2025-26, the three partner schools sent a combined 44 students to Boston across October, January, and March. The Ireland exchange was reimagined this year with a new service and retreat component focused on peace and reconciliation, including a 26-kilometer walk raising awareness for Spinal Injuries Ireland.

Takeaway: To understand another culture, you have to live inside it.

These programs focus on the history, politics, economy, and culture of the destination. Cultural immersion destinations include China, Greece and Italy, and Vietnam. The Rome trip partners with the Paideia Institute for full language and classical immersion, with students translating Latin readings at ancient sites and receiving a private tour from a local Jesuit priest.

Takeaway: Context changes everything.

Global Education Across the School

The Center for Global Education partners with faculty, student affinity groups, and the broader BC High community to bring global education directly onto campus, reaching students who may never travel internationally alongside those who do.

A few recent examples illustrate what this looks like in practice:

Pope Francis Scholars

Seniors who complete the program become conversation mentors for younger cohorts, making it a multi-year leadership pathway as much as a language program. See more here.

Hyde Global Scholars

For freshmen and sophomores, Hyde Global Scholars is the entry point into the Global Certificate pathway, building the foundation of global engagement they'll carry into junior and senior year. Learn more.

Academic WorldQuest

An annual competition testing knowledge of international politics, geography, global economics, history, and world cultures. A team of four students begins preparing in October and competes in a full-day event each March.

Virtual Jesuit Summit

Each spring, BC High students join peers from Jesuit schools around the world to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Apostolic Preferences, working across countries on shared challenges and solutions.

Seattle University Global Citizenship Course

BC High students can participate in a college-level Global Citizenship course offered asynchronously by Seattle University faculty. Students who complete the course receive college credit.

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Programming

Speaker Series

Each year, the Center for Global Education hosts a range of speakers representing complex global issues, intercultural lived experience, and community work with global reach. Attendance is required for students in the Hyde Global Scholars and Global Certificate programs.

In 2025-26, speakers included the Portuguese Ambassador to the United States, a BC High alumnus serving as Communications Director for a U.S. Congressman, a representative from the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Advancement, a Harvard professor on climate justice, and a student-led session on the Vietnamese immigrant experience. Students also attended the Globe Summit, a half-day conference featuring conversations on women's sports, the future of work and AI, and a fireside chat with the CEO of JetBlue.

Programming

The Hyde Center Global Certificate

The Global Certificate at BC High signals that a student has made a sustained, demonstrated commitment to intercultural competency and global engagement: a meaningful distinction for colleges reviewing applications from students in study abroad high school programs across the country.

Requirements

To earn the Global Certificate upon graduation, a student must complete:

  • 12 Hyde Center program sessions
  • An intercultural experience through travel, service, or sustained engagement with a local organization supporting a culture different from one's own
  • Continuous language engagement outside of class
  • Two globally designated courses across two or more departments
  • One project with a global focus
  • Ongoing self-reflections, culminating in a final presentation to an audience

Students begin the program in grade 10 and conclude in grade 12.

In 2025-26, the second cohort of Global Certificate earners graduated. 11 seniors completed the program, 24 rising seniors are currently enrolled, and 19 rising juniors will join in the fall.

CENTER HIGHLIGHTS

Programming Highlights

In 2025-26, the Center for Global Education ran 12 global programs and hosted three partner Jesuit schools, its most active year to date.

  • Cape Verde

    In partnership with the Black and Latino Student Union and the Cabo Verdean Student Association, the Center led its inaugural trip to Praia, Cape Verde.

    Ten students worked with English Language Learners in Cape Verde, visited a local farm, participated in Kriolu language lessons, and explored the history and culture of the island.

    The trip grew directly from student community partnerships and reflects the Global Education Center's ongoing commitment to expanding access to global education across the full breadth of BC High's student body.

     

  • Beijing, China and Yunnan Province

    After a hiatus since 2019, the Center for Global Education relaunched its China exchange through a new partnership with Loyola Blakefield and The Beijing Center.

    Eight students explored Beijing and the Yunnan province, with one night spent with families in a rural village. The Beijing Center coordinated visits to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, and the tomb of Matteo Ricci, SJ.

  • Ecuador

    Twelve students traveled to Quito over April break to work with the Center for Working Families, which provides schooling, health care, food, and vocational training to their community. Students spent part of each day working and playing alongside the children who attend school there.

More to Explore

Further Reading

Frequently Asked Questions

No, students do not need to be proficient in the language of their destination country in order to go on a trip through the Center for Global Education.

There are several ways to engage with the Center for Global Education without traveling.

The Matteo Ricci SJ Society, Pope Francis Scholars, Hyde Global Scholars, and the annual Speaker Series are all available on campus.

Students can also get involved by hosting an exchange student from one of BC High's partner Jesuit schools.

The inaugural Cape Verde trip was developed in partnership with BC High student affinity groups.

The China exchange was relaunched after a six-year hiatus through a new partnership with Loyola Blakefield and The Beijing Center.

Ecuador was added as a new service immersion destination through the Center for Working Families in Quito.