Students in AP European History, taught by Jerry Sheehy, will miss a day of school for a field trip to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco on April 18.

The Legion of Honor is a part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Its holdings include European paintings, decorative art and sculptures dating back 4,000 years along with one of the nation’s largest repositories of artworks on paper.

Last year, this field trip did not take place since there was not enough student interest to pay for the bus fees, Sheehy said. The field trip did take place in the preceding four years since there was a greater student interest.

The field trip was a possibility this year after he was able to garner a minimum of 20 student attendees. According to Sheehy, finding 20 students was difficult, and he had to send out multiple reminders for students to turn in the field trip forms to get enough students on board.

“Maybe I ‘sold’ this year's classes more on the idea of how interesting the trip can be,” Sheehy said. “Every class and every year is a little different. This group seems very interested in getting everything they can out of the class.”  

Sophomore Abhay Manchala was one of the first to get his field trip forms in. He attributes his early action to his interest in history, and said that missing a school day for the field trip was an easy decision for him.

“There are definitely many reasons why someone might take AP Euro,” Manchala said. “But I took it simply because I enjoy history.”

Manchala said that besides the biology field trip he attended in his freshman year, this will be his first field trip for history, and  he is excited to see what the art museum will offer.

“I’m interested in visiting an art museum, and I personally find this kind of stuff interesting,” Manchala said. “Especially since they have a lot of interesting pieces from early Renaissance Europe, and antiquities such as the ‘Thinker.’”

Sheehy expects the trip to be a positive one for students.

“The students leave Saratoga behind for a day and get to spend a few hours exploring a world class art museum,” Sheehy said. “And with the docents giving us the ‘inside scoop’ on the various paintings, students can come to a deeper understanding of the importance of art in culture, particularly European culture.”