A Teacher’s Journey
Transforming Education Through Travel
by Birdena P.
A colleague and I started traveling with Frank Harvey in 1997. We were interested in combining travel adventures and history with our students. Frank and his company have always had such an attention to detail; we’ve never been happy with any other tour company. One year, we were on our way home from NYC to Kansas, sitting at Newark waiting for our flight. School Tours called me to say that our flight was going to be canceled. They told me how to plan and what to do, before I had ever heard anything at the airport. This company watches out for us!!
I started out taking middle school students to Washington, D.C. Before long, the students wanted more, so I started taking high school students to NYC. Many students and their parents go on both trips.
Many students have never taken a big trip like this, have never flown, or seen history firsthand. It makes what they learn in the classroom become real! The favorite places from our Washington DC trip are Gettysburg, Arlington National Cemetery and the Changing of the Guard, Mount Vernon, and the memorials.
NYC is a totally different trip, with us walking and taking the subway. For rural Kansans, this in itself is an adventure! We love learning at Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Broadway Shows, the 9/11 Museum and Memorial, and much more. Many students can’t wait to come back.
What I like most of all is the relationships I can have with these students. Time spent together, all of us learning. Sometimes I receive messages from past students / parents telling me about a current trip they are taking. Because of School Tours of America and the organization of the trips, they follow that example to travel on their own. Nothing better!!!
Thank you, School Tours!!!!
