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But Leah Norman and Caitlyn Keo aren't activists from an international advocacy group. They're 17-year-old high school seniors at the School for Environmental Studies in Apple Valley. They are part of a 30-student group leaving Saturday to spend a month visiting the country's forests, coastal regions and rural agricultural villages and the sprawling city of Dhaka.
They'll study the impact of global warming on jungles and mangrove forests, witness how rising sea levels are pushing the residents off their farmland and learn how microloans to peasants are pulling "the poorest of the poor" out of poverty in the developing world.
The girls are not sightseeing; they hope to develop a way to make a difference in the lives of the people they meet once they've returned to their suburban school in January.
"We want to understand the issues facing their communities so when we come home we can help people here become aware and make a difference," Keo said.
That desire for awareness is key for participants selected by World Savvy, the group funding the trip with help from private donations and grants from the U.S. State Department. World Savvy was founded to improve understanding of cultures around the globe, said Laura Klivans, international program manager. The coming trip to
Bangladesh is the group's first.
International travel and studying abroad continues to gain interest among educators and students, especially as U.S. populations diversify and global communities become more connected by the Internet.
Last year, more than 270,000 U.S. college students studied in another country, more than double the number a decade ago. The number of international students in the United States has jumped 32 percent since 2000, to 723,000, according to data from the Institute for International Education. Numbers at the high school level are lower, but growing.
"International education is going from a nice thing to a must-have," Klivans said. "This generation is very interested in world events and social activism. High school years are important because they are very formative."
The Internet has opened the world to students like Keo and Norman, but with that feeling of interconnectedness to people who are thousands of miles away, there's also frustration.
"It is hard for us, as youth, to make a difference, for our voice to be heard," Norman said. "With this trip I'm trying to show my voice. To be heard."
The teens will chronicle their adventure on a blog, capturingbangladesh. wordpress.com, and will use their experiences to shape the senior class project they must complete before graduating from their environmental high school.
Hands-on experiences like Keo and Norman's trip are a key part of learning at the "Zoo school," which is on the grounds of the Minnesota Zoo, said Principal Dan Bodette. The school emphasizes collaborative learning in a more open, collegiate-like environment.
"To see these types of things firsthand as high school students and then be able to come back and talk about it - what an amazing opportunity," he said.
The students were chosen from a pool of 270 students from across the nation who applied for the program in what Norman described as a "rigorous application process."
Being 7,500 miles away from home during the holidays comes with some fears and nerves.
Keo worries the extent of poverty in the developing nation could be upsetting. "I'm scared of feeling helpless, not being able to do anything about it," she said.
Norman wonders if they'll stick out in the country that is about the physical size of Iowa, but has a population of 160 million, about half of the United States. "I'm curious about how they will respond to us, being Americans," she said.
The girls know they are in for a life-shaping experience. "It will really be a wonderful bonding experience," Keo said. "We are going to meet so many interesting people."
Christopher Magan can be reached at 651-228-5557. Follow him at www.twitter.com/cmaganPiPress.