It took one year for Otter Valley Union High School students Emily Haley and Ariel Mondlak to plan what is expected to be more than the trip of a lifetime — touring seven countries in about 100 days for class credit.

The trip may last three and half months for the girls beginning today, but the school is treating the quest, paid for by the students and their families, as a pilot program for experiential and place-based learning, according to Moosalamoo Center leaders, the hands-on wilderness learning branch of Otter Valley.

"We're looking at competency-based learning rather than seat time (in a classroom)," said Jason Finley, a place-based educator at Moosalamoo and an extensive traveler.

Finley, a 2005 tsunami relief volunteer, said, "From my own personal experience, it (traveling) is what brought me into education. … It gave me that feeling of wanting to give back to something bigger than yourself … knowing that there's more out there than what's in a textbook."

On Wednesday, Haley, 16, and Mondlak, 17, plan to make their first stop in Israel, where they will meet up with their host family and begin an adventure that encompasses food, fun and finding out what other cultures are all about.

But they are required to do more than sightsee — the school expects the students to earn four credits that are general education requirements as if they were staying home.

To earn credits in English or language and literature, history, social science and fine arts, according to Michele Cioffredi, lead teacher at Moosalamoo, the girls will answer the following question in a number of ways during their trip and after: What commonalities and connections exist between cultures and societies throughout the region?

The students will receive letter grades when they get back for reading menus, figuring out train schedules and maintaining journals to show how they responded to those unknowns, Cioffredi said.

The girls will post daily messages, a picture of the week and an interview with a native of each region on a blog.

They will have to keep a "running" bibliography of the texts they read and the research they do, Cioffredi said.

The students will create an original project and presentation on how they connect each country and society they explored upon their return early May.

That presentation will be shown to the school community and they will lead discussions in middle and high school classes, Cioffredi said.

"It was a perfect opportunity to show people how to get high school credit without seat time and apply the standards to global situations," said Cioffredi, a teacher for 17 years. "With the department of education calling for school reform and asking for things to be delivered in a meaningful way with authentic assessments, it's about time schools started to recognize that, as long as there are clear expectations."

Cioffredi said she is confident the girls will do the work — they have proven themselves before and their parents will be involved nearly every step of the way, even visiting the girls on their trip.

The girls were originally going to take a leave of absence from school for the trip.

But Mondlak said Monday she was grateful her teachers will likely give her credit for what she would have done anyway — document the details of her quest online, in writing and in photos.

Mondlak said her most important piece of luggage is her laptop.

"If they (students) want an opportunity outside of the classroom, they should go for it and try to make things happen," she said. "So many students think that learning needs to happen within four walls with the teacher all the time, but it doesn't."

Mother Janet Mondlak agrees.

She budgeted $4,000 for her daughter's trip and helped both girls plan their transportation routes and lodgings with numerous relatives, friends and host families in Israel, Hungary, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland and England.

Janet Mondlak said organizing the trip herself was cheaper, and safer, than a study-abroad program, and it will get the girls away from what they already know.

"It's a great way to showcase these two girls among other students as an example of learning in a nontraditional setting," she said. "These are the things they may not get in a small rural community."

cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com