Middle School Trips in the U.S. and Costa Rica Open Eyes—and Hearts
Every year, Middle School Trip Week is a time of making new discoveries, overcoming doubts and fears, realizing the power of gratitude and teamwork, and developing new insights into history, culture, and the wider world. This year was no exception!
Seventh grade spent a week in New York, experiencing arts, culture, history, and big-city life in the Big Apple. “I enjoyed visiting Ellis Island because it helped me gain a better idea of what immigrants saw and went through when coming to the United States,” commented one student. “This incredible experience moved me in multiple ways.”
“It is one of those trips I will remember my whole life,” said another grateful student, whose memorable moments included “[being] in Times Square, standing at the base of Lady Liberty, tasting the best hamburgers in New York, attending a musical theatre class at TADA Theatre” and watching two Broadway hits—Fiddler on the Roof and Wicked. The theatre experience confirmed this student’s love of acting and her interest in pursuing it further.
In contrast to the modern-day, urban focus of the New York trip, sixth-grade students stepped back in time—to the era of American Revolutionary history. They visited key sites in the Boston area—including the Bunker Hill Monument, USS Constitution, and Lexington and Concord battlefields. (While in the neighborhood, naturally, they visited The Mother Church, including the Mapparium.) Their next main stop was Fort Ticonderoga, near Saratoga Springs, New York. For many of the students, the fort, with its massive cannons and tales of American derring-do as the minutemen attacked the British stronghold, was a highlight. The group also appreciated getting a glimpse into life in that era. “We got to see how people did things way back then in the 1770s and compare it to now, almost 250 years later,” enthused one student. “We saw all of the work that had to go into making [simple things]. In each week, on average, a shoemaker made 12 pairs of shoes! It must have been hard work.”
The eighth graders immersed themselves in another language and culture altogether, not to mention one of the world’s most biodiverse environments, when visiting Costa Rica. Every day brought a new highlight—mingling and playing with youngsters at a Costa Rican school; visiting a pineapple and cocoa farm; going rafting and zip-lining (with many demonstrations over fear of water and heights); doing service work in 100+ degree heat; and exploring the rainforest ecosystem. “Ever since I was in second grade, I’ve been wanting to go to Costa Rica!” exclaimed one student. “I’m one of those kids that has always loved nature and especially birds. . . I added 72 new kinds to the list of bird species I’ve seen in my whole life. Wow!”
In written thanks and reflections after the trips, many students commented on transformative moments—feeling greater love and compassion for classmates, experiencing physical healings, overcoming fears, learning to appreciate cultural differences, and recognizing the need to be an active, positive group participant.
“My favorite and most important life lesson I took away from the Costa Rica trip is that if you don’t give something your all, you’ll never get anything out of it,” said one student. “I bonded so much with my classmates—they became family to me,” said another student who is new to Principia this year.