Most students look forward to leaving school for a day to learn on a field trip and last Tuesday, Señora Gustavus’s AP Spanish Language and Culture had that opportunity. The Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg is hosting a Pablo Picasso exhibit and Señora Gustavus believed that for a class with an emphasis on learning Spanish culture, a trip to see examples from impactful Spanish painters would amplify their preparation for their upcoming AP exam.

The students thought so too, with participant Sophia Creneti agreeing that the trip “allowed them to see for themselves what they were learning about in class.”

But this pretty normal event for a Spanish class represents a more symbolic milestone: the return to field trips. For nearly two years, the Coronavirus has restricted field trip activities and other trips off campus, but with the widespread availability of vaccines and boosters for all high school students and faculty and declining Coronavirus case numbers after the recent Omicron wave, both students and teachers are feeling more comfortable about moving back towards the standard practice of field trips.

And the benefits of field trips are enormous. Mrs. Conn, the Upper School Academic Dean noted that seeing material in the real world that connects to what students learn in the classroom is invaluable to the learning process of a class.

She also noted the bus trips and lunches that many see as fluff or distractions from the learning actually help teachers connect with individual students in the class and that opportunity is “far more valuable than just cranking out [material] all day long”

Of course, many are wondering about the revival of other off campus trip traditions like the 8th Grade Boston trip or IQ trips. While information about IQ for this year and for off campus trips for next year is still forthcoming, the success of both the AP Spanish Language experience in Saint Petersburg and the Harvard Model Congress Team’s trip to Boston could provide blueprints for a safe return to field trips for students.