International trips are returning to Morgan this spring. Honor Spanish students are traveling to Costa Rica, and other Morgan students are traveling to Italy. Students will experience different cultures and lifestyles. The students will be traveling to Costa Rica over the spring break, with the following teachers: Spanish teacher and supervisor of the trip to Costa Rica Laura Luther, Assistant Principal Chris Luther, Superintendent Maryann O’Donnell, and math teacher Jessica Lynch. Students will travel to Italy with Library media specialist and trip supervisor Shannon Robinson, English teacher Eric Carroll, and art teacher Justin Sylvia. Both trips are through EF tours.
The trip to Costa Rica is $2,869, which covers the food, resorts, and activities, but excludes tips and personal purchases. 30 students are going. At first, the limit was 20 students, but it was expanded because of the number of students who wanted to participate.
Morgan students also traveled to Costa Rica in 2016, Sra. Luther said, “It was fabulous” and she “couldn’t say enough positive things about it. It was excellent.” One of Sra. Luther’s biggest aspiration is to be able to take kids and put them in situations where they can use the tools they learned in class. She said it’s exciting “getting to experience all things Costa Rica, from the food to the people, and the natural surroundings.” Señora explains that students who are given the opportunity to go on the trip and travel outside the country have taken either the AP or an honors Spanish class, giving them enough exposure to “feel comfortable hearing the language spoken, and comfortable speaking the language.” Staying in this language class, working hard, and taking these risks, allows students access to such a unique experience.
Students are feeling very grateful for this opportunity. Junior Liliana Luciani said, “I am very excited for the opportunity to go and explore new cultures and use my Spanish in a real-life situation.” Senior, Ari Salgar, said she is “grateful for this opportunity because it is a once and a lifetime experience. You never know when you are going to be able to travel outside the country, and it’s a great time to get to learn about other cultures.” Junior Jason Mansfield, said he’s excited to “see all of Costa Rica and how different it is from the U.S. and talk with all the locals.”
Students are also excited about the Italy trip. The cost of the trip is approximately $3,000, covering all the same expenses as Costa Rica. 26 students, sophomores to seniors, are going on this trip. There are no course requirements for this trip.
Mr. Carroll, although he has been to Italy before, expresses that he is excited to use his knowledge after teaching Humanities to further enrich his experience. He said he has “A whole new framework to build on and is excited to see the buildings skipped over. I had no appreciation for a lot of the culture and history.” He said on his last trip to Italy he focused on the food.
Senior Gavin Gersz said she “always wanted to study abroad, and to be able to start this opportunity in high school is nice, and being able to have it with friends is nicer.” Both Sophomore, Jacquelyn Ciarleglio, and Junior, Lili Novicki, will be traveling outside of the country for the first time. Lili said, “I am excited to see new places like the Colosseum and explore history outside the U.S.”
Morgan is always doing their best to provide opportunities for students beyond the classroom.
