The kindergarten students didn’t need much help.

As Lakeland College student Emily Butz watched children carefully cut paper shapes and glue them into place during a classroom visit in Mexico, she paused at what she saw.

Back home in Canada, she says, students the same age are often still developing those same independent classroom skills with more hands-on guidance. In this classroom, the difference was immediately noticeable.

“The kindergarten kids there were able to sit and do their tasks without being helped — like cutting and gluing,” says Butz, a second-year child and youth care counsellor (CYCC) student at Lakeland College. “I found that really interesting to see.

That moment became one of many small but striking observations during a recent international learning experience that took 11 Lakeland students from Vermilion, Alta., to Mexico this spring.

Students from the early childhood education (ECE) and CYCC programs spent time immersed in community settings, using a refuge for at-risk girls as their home base while visiting schools, rehabilitation centres and community organizations, including El Refugio Fundacion, A.C.

The trip was designed as an extension of their classroom learning — an opportunity for students to apply their skills in human services while experiencing how culture, environment and resources shape the supports available to children, youth and families in different parts of the world.

For Butz, the experience didn’t feel like a single defining moment, but rather a series of observations that gradually shifted her perspective.

“It was honestly life changing,” she says. “It taught me not to take things for granted.”

Much of what stood out to students came from the contrast between familiar learning environments in Canada and what they encountered in Mexico.

In classrooms they visited, Butz noticed a strong emphasis on paper-based learning and hands-on activities, without the same level of technology commonly used in Canadian schools.

“I think a big part of it is the location itself and the technology aspect,” she says. “Here, schools have a lot of technology like iPads and computers. The schools we went to didn’t have that. Everything was paper-based.”

Those differences extended beyond tools and materials. Students also observed how geography and climate influenced daily routines and opportunities for learning.

“Here in the winter, we can’t really be outside, so we have to find stuff to do indoors,” Emily says. “Whereas there, they can be outside most of the time unless it’s pouring rain.”

Alongside classroom visits, the students worked directly in community and care settings, where they applied program-specific skills in real time.

ECE students often supported younger children in classroom environments, while CYCC students engaged more with older youth and adults in rehabilitation and support settings.

Working across unfamiliar settings required students to rely heavily on adaptability.

“Our plans switched up quite a bit every day,” Butz says. “But it allowed us to gain skills working on your feet.”

That flexibility, she adds, reflects what many students will encounter in future human services careers, where circumstances can change quickly and professionals are required to respond in real time.

The international experience is part of Lakeland’s focus on hands-on, applied learning — providing students with opportunities to extend their classroom knowledge into global and community-based settings.

For the group, the trip also highlighted the value of collaboration between disciplines, while drawing on different strengths and approaches to care and learning.

“The ECEs and CYCs kind of helped each other out throughout the whole process,” Butz says. “The instructors were really good and were there to help with everything.”

As the trip unfolded, students were not only observing differences in education and care systems, but also reflecting on how those systems are shaped by broader social and environmental factors.

For Emily, those comparisons helped reinforce the idea that there is no single approach to supporting children, youth and families.

“It really showed me how different schools and facilities can be in different parts of the world,” she says.