The Village School's Class Trips

The Pine Marten group (from left, top to bottom) Chenhan (Adam) Xu, Nicole Koukos, Chris Beilstein, Patrick Smith, Navi Chawla, Nick Wille, Yanxin (David) Wang, Kai-Ming (Jerry) Hsueh, Joey [our guide], Nadya Haddad, Elizabeth Matthews and Julia Randolph. (Photo: Tisha Riley) 

At The Village School, the feeling of community our students experience plays a big part in our school days. Since our school is so diverse with many students participating in different paths of study and a variety of activities, it is sometimes hard to get to know people from our own grade level. Our class trips provide this opportunity as well as a chance to learn in an experiential way in a unique setting.  The trips occur during the first week of November. The freshman travel to Big Bend National Park, the sophomores go to Puerto Rico (this year, they ventured into the Grand Canyon instead) and the juniors go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to explore the Grand Tetons. 

(From left) Julia Randolph and Farida Aly sitting and looking at the mountains in Wyoming. (Photo: Elizabeth Matthews)

 

Traditionally, the freshman trip is a bonding trip and allows the ninth graders to get to know their peers. The sophomore trip is mainly a service trip. When the sophomores went to Puerto Rico in 2015, they volunteered at orphanages, schools and homeless shelters. For juniors, the Wyoming trip is based on scientific research. To earn their International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, the students create a research project and perform experiments and the Teton Science School provides an excellent venue to conduct their research. For the seniors, they participate in a Senior Week. This week is dedicated to help the seniors manage their IB requirements and college applications, but also to give the seniors time together before they graduate. 

(From left) Kai-Ming (Jerry) Hsueh, Chenhan (Adam) Xu, Yanxin (David) Wang, Julia Randolph, Nadya Haddad, Elizabeth Matthews, Navi Chawla, Nicole Koukos, Chris Beilstein and Patrick Smith. (Photo: Tisha Riley) 

As a junior, I participated in the Wyoming Trip. During our stay, when we weren't hiking in the mountains, we were on the Teton Science School (TSS) campus. Each group of students was accompanied by a teacher from Village and one to two guides from TSS. The guides were there to challenge our group into finding and building our own research question. They also helped us navigate around the Grand Teton National Park. A special job of my specific guide was to protect us from a rogue moose that we encountered during a hike. 

Mountains in The Grand Teton National Park.

Each group was prompted to create a question based on a subject of interest. This way, we could research and find out more information on the subject. Once we developed a question, we would perform the experiment. At the end of the day, when all of the data was collected, each group would present their findings to the other groups that performed their research that day. On the days we did not perform research, we hiked and learned about how fire and ice shaped the mountains to look like they do today. We also learned about the ecosystem and how humans and other ecosystems interacted with one another. 

Views from Grand Teton National Park.

This has been my favorite class trip so far. Being out in the wilderness all day, with zero distractions, was one of the most relaxing and freeing experiences I have ever encountered. The friendships that I have made on this trip will always be special to me. In my opinion, this trip has succeeded in bringing me closer to people that I never would have thought I would be close to in my grade level. Overall, I had an amazing time getting closer with the students in my grade and I hope to share more experiences with my classmates in the future.