Hazen Union School is a public school serving approximately 300 rural Vermont students in grades 7-12. Approximately 70% of the school's students qualify for federal Free and Reduced Meal Programs. The Hazen Union School District serves Hardwick, Greensboro, and Woodbury, VT, and students from several other nearby towns, an area of Vermont that withstood and continues to recover from disastrous flooding events of Summer 2023 and Summer 2024.

Hazen and its community are determined to offer the best educational opportunities possible to all students, regardless of their background or financial resources, and the school is excited to learn and serve together with Squads Abroad's Panamanian partners. This service learning trip will be the first time that more than half of the student participants in this Squad will travel beyond US borders. In addition to support of improved educational, health, and economic outcomes of partner communities in Panama, support of this Squad enables these rural, US students to learn and serve through a Squads Abroad experience which they might not otherwise be able to afford.

Global Impact Squad mobilizes students abroad to be matched with an underserved school to complete small construction projects, lead educational workshops, and engage in cultural exchange activities with students in the school that improve educational outcomes. Our in-country teams ensure that the school projects are built on sustainable relationships, need, and in-kind investment within the school. Participants commit a contribution to the school project materials and prepare educational workshops based on topics selected by the school. In addition, the program also incorporates cultural and language learning activities each day that foster greater appreciation and understanding of the local culture. Impact Squads is a program of Global Brigades, a highly recognized international development organization that uniquely implements a Holistic Model that targets specific UN Sustainable Development goals within partner communities. Our model systematically builds community ownership and collaboratively executes programs with the end goal of sustainably transitioning to a relationship of impact monitoring.