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CELL

The Center for Ecological Living and Learning (CELL) is an official Northland College partner and a nonprofit educational organization inspiring students to bring creative, systemic solutions, and environmental stewardship to their individual lives and leadership positions. Students live with host families and/or in lodging run by community partners and have classes, lectures, field experiences, and service-learning opportunities in the region where their program is conducted. During the experiential-learning phases, students apply what they have learned in the classroom to real-life problems in the communities where they are studying. Programs are currently offered in Central America (Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Central America, and the Middle East.

Cell Student Experience

Max Metz Jr. '10, Outdoor Education – Natural History
Unjustifiably summing up my CELL experience, here is a list of opportunities I was able to be a part of: learning Spanish in a local school for two weeks, building solar panels with Nicaraguans, building solar cookers with Nicaraguans, breaking sod for new gardens in the hills of Honduras, reading many amazing books and discussing their importance with my classmates, climbing six volcanoes, sledding down one volcano, living with 12+ Central American families, picking and roasting cacao (cocoa) and making my own chocolate, patrolling beaches in search of nesting turtles in the dead of the night, and gaining a new perspective on life. CELL allowed me the opportunity to study and live abroad for a semester; yet, I was still able to graduate on time.

Click here to read more about Max's experience, and about other student experiences abroad.