Throughout the years, the number of overseas trips connected with or sponsored by Algonquin have declined rapidly, limiting students from gaining worldwide experiences.

Teachers in the language department in previous years have conducted field trips to France, Italy, Costa Rica, Spain, Ireland and more. They opened the trips up to students, and although not officially school-sponsored, they exposed students to languages, lives, and cultures around the world.

However, according to Latin teacher and director head Angela Moll, the trips have been put on pause due to liability issues, overseas field trips have been discontinued for the past few years, limiting students’ active learning opportunities.

Field trips to faraway places are beneficial to students and their ability to learn and apply both academic and life skills.

Overseas trips provide them with real life examples of what they have learned throughout high school. In previous field trips I have been on, such as to various historical and artistic museums and monuments, I have learned more during the experience of going to places than I ever did reading from a textbook or listening to teachers lecture.

I feel that students are more likely to remember the criteria learned throughout the school year and apply them to their day to day lives when they experience the situations themselves versus reading about people who have done those things.

When traveling to other parts of the world, students are forced to be outside their comfort zones and are tested to see how much they know.

For example, if a French class were to go to France, students would be forced to use the French they’ve learned in order to communicate with the locals and perform basic everyday actions, such as ordering food or asking for the bathroom.

The trips would also not take away from the students learning in other subjects, as most trips are taken during vacations.

School field trips grant students the ability to travel to places that they never thought that they would and gain experiences from other countries and cultures.

As some families cannot afford to send their child to such extravagant places around the world, schools are usually granted large group discounts due to the fact that they are traveling for educational purposes, thus providing students with the best educational opportunities possible.

I believe field trips should be brought back to Algonquin to allow for students to explore different parts of the world during their high school experience. Overseas field trips allow excited students to use their knowledge in the real world.