BHS teachers and students look forward to summer class trips

Though Brighton High’s school year is drawing to a close, class trips, some of the most exciting and memorable school-lead learning experiences, will be beginning soon. Over this summer, there will be a history/literature trip, a French trip, and a Spanish trip. These will be wonderful opportunities for students to get to see and experience some of the things that they have been learning about in class first-hand.

Teachers Kimberly Christiansen and Colleen Buchanan will be taking seventeen students to Europe to visit Paris, France, London, England, and Dublin, Ireland on June 17 and will be returning June 29. The intent is to visit locations of historical and literary significance.

“There are two goals. The historical goal is for the students to see the historical aspects, how old Europe is, and enjoy new historical things and get a sense of history… On the literature side, they get to see those places people wrote about,” Buchanan said.

Christiansen and Buchanan first started looking into doing a trip to a few European cities when it was suggested to them that the class take such a trip by two students. Ironically, those two students will not be attending this trip.

Christiansen and Buchanan both seem to be the most excited about going to Dublin, Ireland. Neither of them have been to Dublin before and Christiansen has Irish ancestry.

“If this goes well, we might do another [Europe trip] in a couple years,” Christiansen said.

There will also be a French trip this year from June 15 through June 23, led by teacher Matt Dufon. In order to be eligible to attend, students must have completed at least two years of French.

The students going on the trip will get to experience many different regions and climates of France. They will be visiting Paris, Chamonix, which is in the Alps, and Nice. The French trip is a different trip every time and occurs every two years.

“Personally, I’m most excited about students seeing France for the first time,” Dufon said.

As for the Spanish trip, teachers Patricia Madden and Mona Sokoloff will be taking ten students who have completed at least two years of Spanish to Spain.

From June 21 to July 2, they will be visiting various locations throughout Spain, including Madrid, Segovia, Salamanca, Toledo, Sevilla, Granada, Costa del Sol, and Costa Tropical. At Segovia and Granada, the students will spend four days living with a Spanish family.

“I’m most excited to see students really make leaps in their ability to speak Spanish. It always happens, especially with the Homestays, and it’s just great to see and feel their sense of of accomplishment. I also get excited seeing students ‘fall in love’ with a country that I studied and lived in. There are just so many things to love about Spain!” Madden said.

With their teachers, students will get to experience and appreciate fascinating locations outside of not only the town that they are used to, but also outside of the continent that they live on. Hopefully, their experiences will be interesting and safe ones.

“These trips aren’t free, but they really provide students with lifetime memories and experiences that can’t be replicated in the classroom,” Madden said.