A Lifetime Of Memories In Three Days: A Graduation Trip Story - Part 1 (The Trip)

Think back to the most memorable moment of your middle school experience. Was it a class? A teacher? Your friends? Often when thinking back on the moments that touched us most in school there was something that truly captured us and made an imprint on our brain. I know for me I don’t look back on my “education” as my most memorable moment from middle school. For me, it was the other experiences that stood out. It was the sports teams I played on and the extracurricular activities I participated in. The graduation trip we took at the end of the year.

I have been teaching grade 8 for several years now and one of the best experiences we provide for our students is the annual graduation trip. Each year we take between 80-100 students to St. Donat, Quebec for a 3-day ski trip. Actually, it’s much more than just a ski trip. It is 3 days immersed in Quebec culture and language as well as the great sports and physical education component. Every year when our students walk across the graduation stage and their favourite memory of school is read off it is overwhelmingly the same. “My favourite memory of school is the trip to St. Donat. Unfortunately, this might be the last year that our grade 8 students get to be part of that experience as it is becoming increasingly more likely that administrators will be putting an end to the annual trip.

This trip is one that will put most of these kids in a position where they will have to take care of things themselves for the first time. For many of our students, just having to carry their own luggage and worry about their belongings is a new experience. Teachers are completing the same task as students. The great part about this trip is that everything is 100% organized, run and managed by the staff of Perspectives. Our role as teachers has turned into that of a chaperone and active participant in the activities. The staff take care of everything and therefore all we need to do is to help with behaviour management ad some organization. This creates a unique opportunity for us to be engaged with students as an equal participant rather than as an authority figure. To be honest, there ends up being very little behaviour management because the students are kept very busy and engaged in different activities.

Students start arriving at the school at 7:30AM on the first day. There is an air of excitement and nerves as the students drag their luggage and equipment over to the bus. The bus is one of those big coach buses with lots of legroom and comfy seats. There are movie screens all through the cabin and a bathroom in the rear. Parents are lingering off to the side as they watch their children put their bags in the storage compartment under the bus. For a significant number of these kids, this is the first time they will be away from their parents on their own for more than just a sleepover. You can see the anxiety on the faces of parents as they kiss their kids goodbye and they disappear on to the buses. Once all the goodbyes are done and we have everyone on board we set out on our way to what will be the adventure of a lifetime for these 12 and 13 year old kids.

A little over 3 hours later we pull into the resort where we will be staying for the next three days. Our week is organized through a company called Perspectives. They have been doing these educational trips for students for about 30 years now and they have the whole experience down to a science. The three days are amazingly well organized and the kids are busy the whole time. Upon arrival, we are greeted on the bus by a perspectives leader who got everyone excited about the day in front of them. First on the agenda is to get our stuff off the buses and get our rooms. This is a task that must be completed in 30 minutes because after that we are off to the ski hill. The students eagerly march into motion and hurry to get themselves organized and ready. Now the fun part about this is that the whole experience from start to finish will be in French “with some minor help in English where needed” the majority of our students are French Immersion students and the rest are English students who take Core French. This trip is their opportunity to practice the skills they have been learning in class and to work on their oral communication skills in French. This educational component cannot be duplicated in class.

The kids can’t wait to get started with the activities. They have three days of non stop educational fun ahead. Stay tuned for Part 2 "The Experience"

Images: 1, 2
All other pictures were taken by me.