Bon voyage

Midland High students preparing to continue study-abroad program

Several Midland High School students will take a trip to France and Spain with teacher Karen Wells. In the front row, from the left, are Madison Miller, Emily Foster, Measha Rhew and Micah Brackett; and back row, from the left, Wells, Hunter York, Sidney Marx and Cierra Beck.
Several Midland High School students will take a trip to France and Spain with teacher Karen Wells. In the front row, from the left, are Madison Miller, Emily Foster, Measha Rhew and Micah Brackett; and back row, from the left, Wells, Hunter York, Sidney Marx and Cierra Beck.

— Midland High School students are preparing for another trip to discover other cultures. So far, eight students are on board for the third trip the school will sponsor through the Discovery Student Adventure Program. This time, the students will leave in June 2013 for an eight-day adventure to France and Spain.

“I’ve always wanted to travel and to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame and to see paintings like the Mona Lisa and Starry Night,” said Hunter York, a 10th-grader.

Most of the kids at Midland High haven’t been any farther away from home than Little Rock or Branson, Mo., let alone flown on a commercial airline. So flying will be only one of many firsts for the majority of the participants.

When the adventure program first began offering school trips, it held a contest for the first trip in 2009, and awarded nine teachers all-expenses-paid trips. The teachers were able to also select some of their students for trips with all expenses paid.

Karen Wells, who is a library media specialist at Midland High, entered the contest at the last minute and was surprised to have been one of the teachers in the country chosen for one of the paid trips.

“I waited until the last minute to fill out the application,” she said. “We had a phone interview; then later, they called me and told me I had won. Some of the students had not been out of town.”

On the heels of having to raise money to keep the school system from closing its doors and the community rallying together to raise more than $400,000 in just three months, four students were preparing to take a trip of a lifetime.

Four Midland High School students were chosen to participate in an adventure-based trip to South Africa through Discovery Education. Fourteen students vied for the four available slots. The students were chosen based on interviews with the selection committee and on their detailed essays about how they could benefit themselves, the school district and the community by participating in the trip.

Because there is no longer a limit to how many students can go on the trips, Wells said the ones who want to go must maintain a B average, and there must be no major office disciplinary referrals. But the trips are no longer all-expenses-paid. The students have to raise the funds for the trip.

“I’m really excited,” said Emily Foster, a 10th-grader. “I’ve never been able to do anything like this. It’s really cool to know I’ll go see the Eiffel Tower.”

Madison Miller chimed in: “I’m extremely excited. I’ve never been out of Arkansas, except to Missouri. We are going to see two different types of cultures, and since we are going with other schools, we get to meet new people, and I’m really excited about that.”

Wells said the students come away from the trip with a desire to see more of the world and with lifelong friends.

“When they come back, they have this desire to travel,” Wells said. “They make good friends — lifelong friendships and career contacts.”

Wells also said that seeing these sights or pieces of art through the eyes of her students gives her joy, especially when they feel a connection to the artwork.

Tenth-grader Measha Rhew is an artist, and she said she can’t wait to experience firsthand places such as the Louvre and Montmartre, which is a famous artist’s district in Paris.

“I’m so excited to go,” Rhew said with a huge grin. “I really love art and architecture.”

The group of students will not only see famous paintings, but will get to snorkel in the Mediterranean Sea and dig for artifacts alongside an archeologist at the ancient ruins of Tarragona. The students will also learn about buildings that have no straight lines and get a hands-on painting lesson from a Parisian artist. Then after an overnight train ride, the students will work on a community project with some youth in Barcelona, Spain.

“Traveling allows them to be more open and accepting of other cultures,” Wells said about her students. “How can eight days be that life-changing? I don’t know, but it can.”

Other students who will go on the trip are Shiloh Beck, Cierra Beck, Sidney Marx and Micah Brackett.

For more information on Discovery Education, visit www.discoveryeducation.com. Information on where to read student blogs will be announced at a later date.

Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.

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