Planning Trips with Students

Tips & Anecdotes

One of my favorite aspects of traveling is sharing places I love with people who haven’t previously experienced those places. One of my favorite aspects of working in education is the opportunity to expand my students’ worldview and provide them with new experiences. When I have the chance to combine these two activities, the joy I feel is multiplied.

If you’re looking to take students on a multi-day trip, here are a few tips for planning:

• Build trusting relationships with students, families, co-workers, and managers. Hopefully you’ve already done this if you’re considering a trip, but it is for sure the first step.
• Feel comfortable fundraising from people you know, because we’ve found that our family and friends are the quickest to donate.
• Make sure students carry some of the fundraising responsibility so they are invested.
• Make clear plans and schedules ahead of time. Both for sharing with families and for your own peace of mind before and during the trip.
• Do some prep with the group beforehand. Educating them on the significance of where you are going, providing background knowledge to make something more meaningful, or practicing social skills they might not have yet. For one of our trips we read a book and watched a documentary about Boston’s history, and for another we watched a movie (based on a true story) filmed in Uganda and discussed some customs that are different from our own.
• Be excited and curious yourself, because children will do as you do.
• Build in unscheduled time. Less is often more when planning trips. It is exhausting to be non-stop going every minute for multiple days, for both you and the kids.
• Allow yourself to be extra maternal or paternal when away for multiple days, especially when the students are young.
• Just do it. It can seem overwhelming to think about being responsible for several students in a new environment for an extended period of time, but once you start planning your passion and enthusiasm with kick in and it will all be worth it.

What makes all the planning worth it?

The moment when a student is doing something for the first time. The moment when you feel like you can literally see their mind expanding because of something they heard or saw. The moment they make a connection between what is in front of them and something they learned in school. The moment you share an experience with a student that you know will be held in their memory for years. We have been fortunate enough to have many of these moments.

Like the time I got to watch some of our sixth graders go sledding for the very first time. They didn’t like the cold of a New England winter, but they definitely loved zipping down a hill in my hometown that had been covered in fresh snow, then iced over just enough to make it easy to slide. I even showed them how to strap into my childhood snowboard so they could check that off their list of new experiences.

Or the time I took all my seniors in the Class of 2018 to a ropes course at an Arkansas college two hours from our rural town. Students at our charter school had been visiting colleges campuses since elementary school, so this was a pretty routine visit. But one senior, who had just come to our school in tenth grade and spent most of her first two years getting into too much trouble to earn invitations to field trips, told me that this was her very first time ever stepping foot on a college campus. That truth hit me hard, and made me grateful to be sharing this “travel” experience with her.

Or the time Evan spent an afternoon exploring a creek in the Smoky Mountains with students. (LINK)

Or the time I took students across the state to visit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and walked through a powerful exhibit about the Mexican-American border with one of my undocumented students.

Or the time Evan got to eat one of his favorite meals (grilled cheese and fries) in one of his favorite places (St. Mike’s dining hall) with some of his favorite students. (LINK)

As part of our job, we’ve taken students on countless field lessons to colleges, museums, historical sites, and sporting events. But thanks to the freedom our schools give us, we’ve also been able to capitalize on our strong relationships with families to expose students to even more experiences. Below are the two most impactful trips we’ve planned for students over the years.

New England Trip

In 2015, we took seven of Evan’s sixth grade students on a spring break trip to New England. The students earned a spot on the trip by completing an application, doing an interview, and fundraising for part of the cost. While we love all our students, this crew held a special place in our heart. Evan had taught them for three consecutive years, so we knew them and their families well. This made us especially excited, and was actually the reason we proposed the idea to our school director in the first place. The trip provided our students with many new experiences, including:

• Flying on a plane (a first for four of the students)
• Sledding and snowboarding down a hill of fresh snow
• Running up the stairs of Harvard Stadium
• Taking a historical tour of Boston (thanks to my dad’s Old Town Trolley tour)
• Going to significant historical sights along the Freedom Trail
• Tasting clam chowder (not their favorite)
• Cooking lobsters with my mom (and devouring them when finished)
• Visiting the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Vermont
• Eating Thai food
• Attending a college English class at St. Mike’s (thanks to one of Evan’s professors)
• Hanging out in a college student center, making friends & observing the life of students

Uganda Trip

In 2017, we took three of my rising seniors (along with our close friend/school director) to Uganda for three weeks. Similar to the previous trip, we had students complete applications, we met with their parents, and we worked together on fundraising. I thought students would jump at the opportunity because we had been talking about the Malayaka House for years with them, but only three brave souls completed the application. We had intended to take just two, but decided to accommodate all three because of their enthusiasm. Here is a sampling of the new experiences they accumulated:

• Getting a passport and taking a series of flights. For two of the students, this was their first time flying. And what a way to start: five flights to get from Memphis to Entebbe.
• Living alongside people who mistakenly believed they were wealthy. My students, who come from a low-income community, were bothered by the fact that being American would lead citizens of third world countries to assume they were rich. This prompted discussions about relative wealth, misconceptions about the United States, and the importance of getting to know people before judging them.
• Rafting on the Nile River. My students were nervous beforehand, and they were frequently thrown from the raft in the middle of rapids, but they popped back up with a smile on their face each time. They were full of pride and gratitude at the end of the day.
• Trying to teach young children basic academic skills. While our school-aged children at the Malayaka House were at school, my students spent one hour each morning working with the three and four year olds. They attempted to teach numbers, letters, and colors, and they learned quickly whether or not they were wired for early childhood education.
• Observing the positive and negative aspects of growing up in an orphanage. My students were amazed by the joy that exudes from our kids at the Malayaka House. They often reflected on how remarkable it was that kids who came from such unfortunate circumstances were so happy and healthy. They could see that being raised as a family with countless supportive adults providing consistency allowed our Malayaka House children to thrive. On the flip side, my students could see behaviors in the young kids that were likely the effects of unhealthy attachment styles, childhood trauma, or abandonment. One of my students was even inspired to study psychology in college, in part because of the relationships she formed and behavior she observed in Uganda.

If you work in education, I would encourage you to look for opportunities, no matter how big or small, to spark a love of travel in your students. It doesn’t matter if you go one hour from home or halfway across the world… the more kids and teenagers are pushed out of their comfort zone, the more open-minded, accepting, and adventurous they will become. We hope to have many more adventures with students in tow!