Since 2008, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School has hosted travel programs for students to enjoy learning outside of the classroom around the country and abroad. There have been trips to France, Spain, and even our partner school in Haiti, to enhance students’ language skills and relationships with their peers. Travel programs have always been something people look forward to, but this year, students’ disinterest has taken a significant toll on the trips offered: almost half of them have been canceled.
Director of Service Learning and Community Engagement Mr. Yee plays an integral role in organizing and overseeing the trips each year. These trips are key in fulfilling our school’s service mission. Mr. Yee said that before Covid, the number of student participants on the service and abroad trips were consistently high, with one year reaching 120 students. However, since the pandemic, the numbers have dropped more than half, resulting in two years of no more than 60 student participants.
This year, seven service trips were offered. None of them are running anymore. The only trips running are the Camino de Santiago to Spain, the theater and literature trip to the United Kingdom, and the Taiwan exchange. Both the Spain and the UK trips have under ten students participating. The Taiwan exchange has 13 students going, which is still not close to max capacity.
One of the reasons Mr. Yee believes applications are so low is the fact that this fall is much busier for students than in past years. People are likely not paying as much attention to possible opportunities after this semester. Another possible reason stems from the way the school gives out information regarding the trips. In the past, including this year, SSSAS has hosted a travel program night after school for parents and students to learn about all of the trips and ask questions. But Mr. Yee realizes that hosting the information night is hard during the beginning of the fall semester, when students are busy with sports and other extracurricular activities.
Mrs. Desautels, the director of communications, says that this year they decided to send an email to families before the Saints Travel Information Night, which is something they have done in the past. Mr. Yee also announced the trips during a morning meeting announcement, and there was information on the resource board. Mr. Yee and Mrs. Desautels are currently working to find a more efficient way to announce the trips to students, like holding the sessions during lunch in the future to make them more accessible to learn about.
Another reason Mr. Yee believes that the trips were canceled was because of a lack of financial aid, which Mrs. Adams, head of school, had more to say about. She explained that she would love to provide financial aid so all students across the Upper School campus can travel on these programs, but “unfortunately, the school has a limited amount of financial aid.”
“Our first priority is to allow students to access our school by supporting tuition. The second is to provide access to programs in our school by connecting to curriculum or activities,” she explained. “For example, we provide financial assistance for sports trips, class trips, or activities like Certamen etc. In an ideal world, we would have enough financial assistance to cover all of the trips, including optional ones, but we do not have unlimited financial assistance.”
The French Normandy Exchange has been one of the most popular trips at SSSAS since it started running 35 years ago. Madame Van Way, a beloved French teacher here at SSSAS, took over the program in 2006. She shared that the exchange has only had to be canceled twice: in 2001 after 9/11 and in 2020 during Covid. The trip has never been canceled due to lack of student interest until now. Madame Van Way told The Voice that in previous years, student involvement has never been a problem for the yearly French exchange.
“We’ve had anywhere from 10 to 20 students,” she said, “so it really just depends on the year and the makeup of the group.”
Madame Van Way explained how the Normandy Exchange trip is only open to students who take French or have taken French in the past, and how the trip is made to help students gain confidence in their French speaking skills. “French students stay with their host families and practice French and get the opportunity to go to their families’ school every day.”
Madame Van Way is disappointed that the trip is not running this year, but she is optimistic that more students will attend next year and looks forward to going back. “I just know next year we’ll have a bigger group,” she said. “I think there’ll be a robust size. I can tell there’ll be at least 15 to 20 students who want to go next year, so I’m encouraged by that.”
Elisabeth Carroll, a senior who attended the Normandy Exchange last year, shared, “I still talk to my host student today and her family and I got to know all of my peers on the trip really well.”
Elisabeth is sad that some people will miss out on the exchange, as it impacted her life in many positive ways and allowed her to see a part of the world where students’ lives were very different from her own. “It’s unfortunate that other people here don’t have the same experience, and I totally get that it seems a bit daunting at first, but once you build those relationships, they last for a long time.”
Alum Claire Helmreich also went on the Normandy Exchange trip during her time at SSSAS, and shared that she “truly enjoyed every moment with my host family.” Claire said that living in a French home was very different from her home life in Alexandria, and that the school schedules and daily routines implemented were different than she was used to. Nonetheless, she had a wonderful time in France and encourages everyone who is eligible to take up the once and a lifetime trip. “These trips offer a unique cultural experience and a chance to build friendships. Not only do you bond with peers from your school, but you form lifelong friendships with someone across the ocean.”
Lucy Palma, another alum, went on the trip to the San Diego border during her junior year with Shoulder to Shoulder. She met with immigration activists and immigrants living in San Diego. During this trip, she went to the Tijuana and San Diego border and observed what many immigrants go through first hand. She said that even though the trip was fun, she still got to learn and experience so much. “The point of service learning is to give yourself the tools to give back by educating yourself on an issue.”
Service learning and exchange trips can be a great way to learn about the world around you. As our schools service mission says, “At SSSAS we want students to do more than stare out at the world. We want them to see its cultures, histories, landscapes, and perspectives—like and unlike their own—and to explore, collaborate, respect, serve, and engage with them.”
