As part of API programs, students participate in Curated Experiences designed to enhance students’ cultural immersion in their host city. One of our most beloved Curated Experience type is a category called API Gives Back, which connects students with local communities through hands-on service, building empathy, cultural understanding, and meaningful impact beyond the classroom. Here is an example from Granada:
Granada’s API Gives Back program is deeply rooted in the land and community that surround it, from reforesting the hills above the Alhambra to standing alongside neighbors at local food and fostering drives. Many of these experiences run seasonally, giving students a reason to return to the program throughout their time in the city.
Reforesting the Landscape
Each fall and spring (when available), students join local associations working to regenerate Granada’s natural landscape. The work is practical and hands-on, almost entirely outdoors, and focused on environmental restoration and conservation, projects that matter well beyond the semester, contributing to the fight against climate change and the health of local ecosystems.
The Kilo Operation: Food Bank Drive
Each fall and spring, students join the local Food Bank’s “Operación Kilo,” a beloved community tradition that makes giving simple: shoppers are encouraged to buy a little extra (rice, pasta, canned goods, baby food) and donate it on the spot. Students help staff collection points outside supermarkets and community centers, practicing their Spanish with locals while directly supporting families in need.
Fostering Pets Campaign
Working hand-in-hand with a local animal welfare NGO each fall and spring, students can take part in a pet fostering campaign, providing a temporary, loving home for animals in need. It’s a hands-on way to be part of the rescue chain and give an animal a second chance.
Irrigation and Tree-Planting Campaigns
In partnership with ACCC (Árboles Contra el Cambio Climático — Trees Against Climate Change), students hike up to the Alhambra forest each fall, after the season’s first rains, to take part in a tree-planting campaign. In the spring, the experience shifts to a guided tour of the Alhambra Forest’s Forest of Poetry, followed by an irrigation campaign to help the previous season’s plantings thrive.
