Superior students excited for European tour
Superior students Victoria Tinker, Grace Shipman, Lorayna Pittsley, Jeff Schultz, Kylie Quick, Mollie Patko, Wyatt Haworth, Owen Doyle, William Buchanan and Micah Acker.
One really can’t refer to them as "field trips" when the kids are flying seven time zones from home to Europe.
“No, let’s call these adventures” smiles Jeff Schultz who is the history teacher among other responsibilities at Superior High School. This will be the third adventure that Schultz has organized and participated in and he’s thinking of ideas for the next one in two years.
This one had to be postponed a year because of the pandemic, but Schultz is excited to finally get to go abroad again.
“We originally had 52 travelers going and now have 13 traveling (nine students, two adult travelers, and two chaperones). This will be a huge advantage because we will not be paired up with any other group. It will just be us”, he explained.
The smaller setting will allow students to be up front to hear and see what their tour guides are explaining rather on tiptoes and barely hearing the history being shared in much more crowed situations. It’s a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors and each traveler had to pay between $4,000 and $5,000 for this trip.
“We did a lot of fundraising for the students. Raffles were a big hit, and we had a booth at the fair and even had cow pie bingo where we waited for a cow to poop to find out the 50/50 winner,” Schultz laughs. “I taught all of these students a World War II focused class where we talked about most of the places we are going and the things we will get to see. This was awesome for me because I could say ‘You will see this’, instead of looking at just pictures or films.”
When asked about the itinerary, Schultz whittles it off as one can see his passion.
“We will be gone for 14 days for our World War II and the Western Front trip. We will be traveling to five countries: UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria. We are more or less following EZ company from the show Band of Brothers series across Europe. In England we will visit all the World War II museums and sites in and around London. We will do a Jack the Ripper walking tour of his murder scenes where people still dress up in Victorian style dress.
"We will then take a ferry across the English Channel and land on the beaches of Normandy. From there we will head to Paris. We will see the Eiffel tower, Arc De Triomphe, Napoleon's tomb, The Cathedral of Notre Dame, take a night river boat cruise on the Seine River at night, and see the Palace of Versailles which is my favorite. To see the bourgeoisie decadence in building is truly breathtaking.
"From there we will head into Germany to Bastogne, Cologne, and on to Berlin. We will get to see the Holocaust Museum, the Berlin Wall, and the Brandenburg gate. We will then travel to Nuremberg to see the site of the trials for the Nazi war criminals. We will go to Munich and finally to Salzburg, Austria where the sound of Music was filmed and see the Eagles Nest,” as he catches his breath.
Schultz will email pictures and an update for the March 30 edition of the Mineral Independent. All 13 leave on March 23 and return April 6.
When asked what each student wants most out of their upcoming trip:
Victoria Tinker: “I’ve never been on a plane before, so this is going to be really good.”
Grace Shipman: “I’m excited to see new things after being quarantined for so long.”
Lorayna Pittsley: “I hope to gain experience about the world outside our community and gain a better understanding of our history in World War II and America’s influence overseas.”
Jeff Schultz: “I hope the students gain a lot of knowledge of what they will see. The biggest thing I hope the takeaway from the trip is all the culture and how big and truly diverse this world is.”
Kylie Quick: “I hope to gain more cultural experiences because I haven’t traveled that far out of Montana. How people live and the history of each area. I just love history, and this will be very interesting.”
Mollie Patko: “I’m just so excited to see what is in the world! We live in such a small town, and I’ve travelled to places like New York City, but to see different cultures and different perspectives of people who live in completely different places. This is going to be absolutely incredible.”
Wyatt Haworth: “I am very excited for the food.”
Owen Doyle: I’m excited for the food.”
William Buchanan: “I’m just going for the food. That’s about it.”
Micah Acker: “Great experience to see the world through a different perspective.”