Spring Break Trips Summary

Every year, the school offers a myriad of Spring Break trips all across the globe to students. This year, several students took advantage of this opportunity, with trips embarking to Camino de Santiago, Costa Rica, Normandy, Panama, and Vietnam. This year’s destinations offered a variety of opportunities for growth, sights to see, and expansion of perspective. Here is how they went:

Camino de Santiago:

Led by Ms. Geiger and Dr. Strednak-Singer, this trip offered students a chance to hike a portion of the famous Camino de Santiago, a hiking trail that spans roughly 500 miles. Staying at a variety of hostels along the way, the group gained a new perspective of the natural beauty of Spain. On the fourth day of walking, towards the end of the journey, Junior Kalli Dinos wrote on the travel blog, “It’s hard to believe that four days have gone by and that tomorrow is our last day of walking. I’m very sad to say goodbye, but I know that I will enjoy our last few miles and arrival in Santiago to the fullest.”

Costa Rica:

Led by Dr. York-Simmons, this group journeyed across Costa Rica during Spring Break. They went to Trapice don Carmen to learn about how sugar is produced from sugarcane, and traveled to Corcovado where they were able to see animals in their natural habitat. Dr. York-Simmons described it like this on the Saints travel blog: “Being there helps to emphasize the biodiversity of this place and the reason the community of Rancho Quemado is trying to preserve and restore their part of the Osa.” The group had a little hiccup, experiencing an earthquake during a soccer game, though according to the travel blog, many people didn’t even notice with the soccer game hardly missing a beat.

Normandy:

Led by Ms. Hunt, Mr. Fodrie, and Madame Scott, this trip offered students an opportunity to explore multiple parts of France, with varying levels of independence. During the first few days, they visited Paris, seeing landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. On the third day, the group arrived in Bayeux, where they met the French families that they would be staying with for the rest of Spring Break. The following day, they went to see the beaches of Normandy, and talked about cultural differences with their host families. The next several days were spent getting to know the host families and exploring Bayeux.  

Panama: 

Led by Mr. Cotter and Ms. Giacomán, this trip to Panama was centered around visiting local schools and getting to know the students. On the first day of meeting with the children, Sophomore Niels Merino wrote on the SSSAS travel blog, “When I got there, it was much different than what I was used to. I saw that the people weren’t as fortunate as me and my classmates and that everything they had was worth so much to them. It made me very grateful for what I have.” They did several activities with the kids, such as playing cards, playing a game of soccer, and building legos. Outside of the meetings with the children, the group took part in several activities, such as a trip to visit a bat cave, a snorkeling trip, and a tour of a cacao farm.   

Vietnam: 

In one of the furthest trips of the year, students led by Mr. Lowinger and Ms. Hardwick traveled all the way to Vietnam for Spring Break, an 11 hour time difference! After nearly a full day of travel, they arrived in Hanoi and got settled in their hotels. The next day, they arrived at Lao Cai very early in the morning to prepare for a hike that they would be going on. On the hike they learned about cloth making using beeswax and visited a local shop. The next day, they visited the highest summit in the Hoang Lien Son Range, Fansipan. After a cable car ride, the group had to take nearly 600 steps to get to the peak. Along the way, they saw several Buddhist temples and shrines. Reflecting on that leg of the trip, Juniors Safira Yisrael and August Moon said this, “The temples and shrines were really cool and you could see one pagoda floating in the clouds and that was very exciting.” Over the next few days, the group traveled to Ha Long Bay, where they had lunch on a boat, Da Nang, and they visited a “monkey mountain” and pagodas, Hoi An, where they got some custom clothes, and finally, Ho Chi Minh City, where the group explored the Cu Chi Tunnels.