'Wildcats Abroad' provides exploration opportunities

Red. White. And Green? Wildcats spent part of their summer on a whirlwind trip through Italy and Switzerland led by the Education First (EF) tour program. West partners with the program to take a group of students every two years to all corners of the world. 

 Math teacher Jason Lasee began advising the group because of the impact he saw it had on students.

“I love the experience of watching students who have never traveled in a foreign country or an airport. It’s cool to see how much they grew from a couple hours of learning to navigate on their own,” he said. “I saw much more educational benefit than I actually thought I would. Not to mention it’s a cool job, getting to travel.”

After a long overnight flight to Switzerland, the group hit the ground running. A typical day for the travelers was long and busy with students always on the move to see something new.

“We would travel and do tours, followed by a lunch break at one of the places we went to,” senior Suzette Lain said. “We’d usually hit around three different places, and we’d get free time at one of them. We’d either go to the hotel for dinner or go to a traditional restaurant, and one time they showed us how to make pasta.”

There is a wide range of favorite attractions among the trip leaders and all of the students.

“I’m more into the sights than the arts, and I’ve been to Rome before. The Colosseum just blows my mind,” Lasee said. “There’s something about structures that are 2,000 years old that fascinates me. When I ask my students at the end what their favorite thing was, I get six different answers from six different kids. Everybody sees something a little different.”

Math teacher John Stack accompanied Lasee on the trip as a chaperone and appreciated learning specifics about the famous landmarks he saw.

“For me, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pompeii, and Vatican City were some of the highlights,” he said. “In the area around the Leaning Tower of Pisa, there was a basilica and tombs, and it was way bigger and more interesting than I thought it would be. To find out why it’s leaning and how many times they’ve tried to fix it and why there are four different levels was cool.”

Lain was surprised by the beauty of the landscape, something she hadn’t anticipated.

“In Switzerland, one thing that really stuck out to me was the mountains. We stayed in the mountains and they were gorgeous,” she said. “We went up and got to look out and see the city from the top of the mountains. We spent a lot of time up there, which was really cool because I wasn’t expecting to see mountains; I was expecting to see more cities.”

The tour was a smooth blend between sightseeing and learning, with educational tidbits mixed into every new attraction.

“If you were seeing something, it was probably for a reason. You would always learn about the history of what you were seeing and why it was there,” freshman Louisa Lang said. “In Europe, everything is way older than it is here, and it has more history.”

A tour director stayed with the group throughout the duration of their trip and proved to be a constant fountain of information.

“A lot of the sightseeing locations have a lot of history to them, so overall we were learning a whole bunch,” Lain said. “Since our tour guide was native to the area and had grown up there, he would tell us about his experience when he grew up and when he was our age. He would tell us what certain words meant and would tell us about the mountains when we were on the bus.”

There were some cultural differences that the group had to adjust to while being in new countries.

“The biggest thing that every student will remember from this trip is having to make sure you carry change with you in case you need to use the bathroom,” Lasee said. “Paying to use the bathroom is odd to us here, but very few places were free. When it’s really hot and we’re trying to tell people to stay hydrated, it’s kind of a Catch-22.”

There was plenty that students can take away from the trip because being in a new country provides a new world perspective.

“Hopefully they got out of it a passion to not just learn about other cultures, but experience it,” Stack said. “It’s one thing to read about something or watch it on Netflix, but to go there and immerse yourself in it and experience it is way different and a hundred times better.”

Lang returned to America from the trip a different person than she was when she left.

“This trip changed me for the better,” she said. “It was a great experience, especially going with a school and knowing I have trusted adults over there. It’s a really safe environment and the people you’re going with are great. This trip pushed me outside my shell and taught me so much about myself and the world.”

Lain recommends the trip to anyone considering it.

“It’s 110 percent worth it. Whether you know someone or not, you will have lasting friends from the trip,” she said. “Even if there are teachers or parents that you don’t know who are going, you’re instantly going to be very close with them. It’s not like being in a classroom; you get to connect with them on a different level since you’re all experiencing something together.”

By Abby Furcy

Oshkosh West Index Volume 119 Issue I

October 3, 2022