Most students look forward to school breaks as a time to relax and unwind from the trials of school. For a select few, however, these breaks provide a unique opportunity to learn. This year, some students will have the opportunity to travel with their peers to expand their knowledge.
The French and Spanish departments will be traveling to France and Mexico, respectively, while history teacher Matt Torrens will lead his “Wild West” trip to Utah, which is planned every other year. All three trips are already well into the planning process and will occur during the second semester.
Students to experience French culture during spring break
For the first time, the French department has scheduled a trip to France during spring break. The trip is being planned by French 2, 4 Honors and 5 AP teacher Laura Lizundia and hosted by ACIS, an agency which plans educational trips.
The trip will include stops in Paris, Loire Valley, and St. Malo. The students will have a chance to practice their French while enriching themselves in the country’s unique culture.
The group will begin their trip by spending two days in Paris, where they will tour the city’s significant landmarks such as the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Arch de Triomphe. Two more days will be spent in Loire Valley to visit Versailles and the town of Amboise. The second to last day will be spent in St. Malo, where the students will tour the Normandy Coast and visit Omaha Beach, the site of D-Day. The trip will be capped off with a dinner in Paris.
Spanish department returns to Cuernavaca
The Spanish department will return to Cuernavaca, Mexico, this February break for its annual trip. Since venturing to Merida, Mexico, for the first time last year, Spanish teacher and trip coordinator Arnaldo Rodriguex plans to alternate between the two destinations to give returning students an opportunity to learn about both the Mayan history present in Merida and the Aztec history in Cuernavaca.
Junior Oliver Chen was able to go on the Spanish trip two years in a row. Because of the extensive cultural immersion provided by the trip, Chen improved his Spanish and learned about Mexican society.
“The culture, language, education, pretty much everything [in Cuernavaca and Merida] are slightly different from one another,” Chen said. “Both places were very fun because we were able to integrate ourselves into their societies, which really helped us understand their cultures. My Spanish skills increased tremendously as I learned many new phrases and words by conversing with the people there.”
The trip is open to students in Spanish 2 or above and typically includes around 40-50 students. The students will be fully immersed in Spanish language and culture throughout the 10-day trip, as they will stay with host families and take classes throughout their stay.
“The academic component is that the students take six hours of classes at a university, and then we have cultural tours,” said Rodriguex, who has been organizing the trip at Saratoga since 1980. “[The students] stay with Mexican families to practice their Spanish and then we do activities as a group every night.”
Torrens preps for “Wild West” adventure in Utah
Another upcoming trip is the “Wild West” trip during spring break, which typically takes around 25 juniors and seniors. The trip will be a historical trek around Moab, Utah, as the students will learn about the state’s historical monuments and explore both Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park. This will be the fifth trip conducted by World Geography and AP US History teacher Matt Torrens, who schedules it every other year.
“It’s a pretty stressful trip for me, so I do it every other year,” said Torrens.
Torrens plans the trip himself, but is accompanied by two other teachers in order to provide sufficient transportation and supervision. Two years ago fellow teachers Kim Anzalone and Amy Obenour went on the trip. This year, Anzalone and Spanish teacher Bret Yielding are scheduled to accompany Torrens.
According to Torrens, students on the Wild West trip will have the action-packed experience of Jeeping, repelling and mountain biking. They will also visit a Japanese World War II internment camp, see dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs, and hike out to the crash site of a B-52 that carried a nuclear missile during the Cold War.
These experiences do come at a price, however. The French trip will cost approximately $3,500, while the Mexico trip costs $1,800. Though Torrens does not know of the exact price of the “Wild West” trip, he estimates it will cost roughly $1,200.
