Dane Laster
Next year two teachers, Alisa Casady and Maris Tucker will be taking students on a trip to Italy. Casady said, “Right now there are 12 people signed up. There was an initial deadline, But people can still join.”
Initially, Casady and Tucker did not plan the event, as Casady said, “Mrs. Bailey actually had originally organized this trip and then she was not able to do the tour, so she won’t be able to attend. She was looking for another sponsor to take it over, that’s when Mrs. Tucker and I took over the trip.”
Because Tucker has been to Italy before, she said, “I have studied abroad there and I taught in Italy, and my family’s from Italy. So I have a lot of background knowledge, but I’ve never been to the central part Italy, where we’re going to be going on the trip. So I thought it’d be neat to be able to share my experience with other people, and just get a new experience of Italy.”
One student who will be going on the Trip, Freshman Tyler White. He said, “I think it’s gonna be a really good learning opportunity and it’ll be cool to experience a new culture and what food they eat and stuff like that.”
For Tucker, one goal she said she would like to accomplish on this trip would be to broaden students’ horizons.
“The goal of the trip is to open their eyes to new experiences…A lot of times we learn through history or any classe about these different places, but we never get to experience the history we don’t get to see things that are thousands of years old, because our country is not that old,” said Tucker.
As Tucker said, traveling internationally and exploring new things would allow them to do that Tucker said.
“For kids to be able to actually go and explore and see these things first hand is very eye opening for them. And they get to be exposed to new culture and go out of their comfort zone, which is where I believe the most learning happens,”said Tucker.
In fact, Cassidy already has plans for the trip that include going to Rome, tour of Vatican City, traveling to Benevento via Capua, visiting chocolate factories and cheese farms, and enjoying the Adriatic Sea.
“The trip is called the cuisine and culture Trip it’s through EF, which is an educational company that specifically takes students and teachers to learn more about the world and the culture around us. So I would say the goal ultimately, would be to learn about a different culture and experience the world,” Cassidy said.
However, Cassidy said that the cost of the trip will still not be that cheap as people have to pay for things such as hotel fees, food, and more. ,
“It’s pretty expensive to go because, everyone is paying for their own flight, accommodations,food and the Travel Guide. So although it’s expensive, it’s still an awesome opportunity,” Cassidy said.
Tucker explains the cost, “The total cost comes out to around $4,000 though that my not be exact, they make it for the way that the program is designed so each kid gets like a GoFundMe account…It’s their own crowdsourcing account and they just raise their money through that. And the fees actually go directly towards them and not towards GoFundMe or the account that is being used to help them raise money,” said Tucker.
Even though it’s not for a class or club Cassidy said, It’s still over all going to be a great experience for students.
