Travel

Trip Date: Closed Weekend: Jan. 31 - Feb. 4

Focus: Community Service

Trip Leader(s): Emily Gaylord & Meghan Rothschild

Price: $1,100

Deadline: November 27, 2012

Description: Students from WMA will fly to Miami where they will participate in a beach cleanup. They will then drive down to the Florida Keys where they will work with the Dolphin Research Center to learn about dolphins and how they can help this loveable mammal. They will then volunteer at a soup kitchen in Florida before flying back home on February 4, 2013. Preference given to students who have been in WMAction or Service Corps. Contact Emily Gaylord with questions.

Trip Date: Spring Break: March 2-6

Trip Leader(s): Paul Bloomfield

Price: $2,200

Focus: Digital Landscape Photography

Register: Grand Classroom (external website)

Deadline: November 27, 2012

Description: In this for-credit Fine and Performing Arts course, students will spend five days experiencing and photographing one of the world's most visually stunning environments: the American southwest. Students will produce a portfolio of work that expresses the immense beauty of this region. The class will begin in the winter trimester with evening work sessions to understand objectives and technical requirements using Adobe software such as Photoshop and Lightroom. Students will exhibit their work online on the WMA website shortly after their return. Digital SLR cameras are required, along with a laptop or iPad equipped with photo-editing software. Students are strongly encouraged to take Digital Photography and/or any photography classes in the winter. Previous photography students are also encouraged to attend. Highlights include travel to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Antelope Canyon, floating down the Colorado River and Las Vegas.

Trip Date: Spring Break: March 4-12

Focus: School Exchange - Plymouth College

Trip Leader(s): Donna Barone

Price: $2,400

Deadline: November 27, 2012

Description: Four students and one faculty member will travel to England in the spring of 2012. Students will be chosen based on academic merit and citizenship. Students will be housed at Plymouth College, a boarding school in Southern England where they will be fully immersed in British boarding school life. Additionally, the group will spend time visiting historical sites both in the south of England and London.

Trip Date: Spring Break: March 4-14

Focus: Design & Manufacturing

Trip Leader(s): Gayle Hsiao

Price: $3,300

Deadline: November 27, 2012

Description: Students will travel to Northern Italy to explore the process of bringing an idea from design to manufactured product. In addition to seeing the beauty of Northern Italy, students will visit successful automotive, technology and fashion industries, speaking with artists, manufacturers and business leaders. The group will travel from Turin to Bologna and Milan visiting Ferrari and FIAT automobile campuses, Ducati motorcycles and participate in design, fashion and innovation workshops. This travel opportunity is taken for trimester academic CEGS credit (students will receive a grade) and there will be work required before and after the trip.  

See itinerary

Trip Date: Spring Break: March 7 -14

Focus: Community Service

Trip Leader(s): Chris Sparks & Tiffany Norman

Price: $2,900

Deadline: November 27, 2012

Description: Students from WMA will travel to Mountrouls, Haiti and surrounding villages where they will work on service projects aimed at assisting with skill and infrastructure needs in the community and be exposed to the Haitian people and culture. Students will work alongside Haitian counterparts and assist with educational and feeding programs at a local school and orphanages as well as assist in small infrastructure projects identified by the community. This opportunity would be optimal for students interested in having more service opportunities and practicing their French language skills.

Trip Date: Spring Break: 14 days

Focus: Language Immersion & Student Exchange

Trip Leader(s): TBD

Price: $1,200 (if travelling and hosting visiting Spanish students)  $1,700 (if traveling and unable to host)

Deadline: November 27, 2012

Description: Students will travel to Northern Spain and take part in the first leg of an exchange with a high school in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Students will live with Spanish families and attend classes. The goal of the travel is complete cultural and language immersion. Students need to be enrolled or have taken Spanish classes to be considered. Preference will be given to students who are also able to host Spanish students next fall, are in good academic standing and have demonstrated the level of responsible citizenship expected of a WMA student. Read more.

Trip Date: June 2-11

Trip Leader(s): Deb Levheim

Price: $2,900

Focus: Ecology and Conservation

Deadline: December 1, 2012

Institutional Partner: Ecology Project International

Description: This is an amazing opportunity to assist with a sea turtle monitoring project and be an active collaborator in international sea turtle conservation efforts.

Costa Rica’s Pacuare Nature Reserve, with four miles of beach and a 2,500-acre rainforest, is a protected sea turtle reserve. The beach at Pacuare is of critical importance in terms of worldwide sea turtle nesting activity. Costa Rica’s tropical lowland forests are home to howler monkeys, three-toed sloths, toucans, iguanas, tree frogs, and other wonders of the natural world. Students collect data on nesting sea turtles including carapace width and length, and number of eggs laid. Using that information they develop a field-based research project. On-course, students complete at least 20 hours of research while patrolling the remote beach at the Pacuare Reserve in partnership with the Endangered Wildlife Trust. This 12- day program also includes over 50 hours coursework and instruction in subjects like sea turtle biology, rainforest ecology, and research methodology. After completing their fieldwork, students meet their Costa Rican peers when they visit a school attended by local program participants. Students spend time together giving joint presentations, sharing research data, engaging in the powerful exchange of ideas, and realizing their collaborative strength.

Trip Date: Approximate dates June 3-24

Focus: Community Service

Trip Leader(s): Alex Dezieck

Price: $3,900

Deadline: January 15, 2013

Description: The summer China trip provides opportunities for students to see many sides of China. The primary purpose of the trip is to participate in the Yunnan Ethnic Minority School (YEMS) project where students will help teach English to middle school students in rural areas of China. Participants will interact with students and families, learn about the living conditions and environment in rural China and exchange knowledge and customs with residents of the villages. This portion of the trip is sure to give students experiences they have never had before and will open their eyes to new cultures in rural China.

The YEMS project is followed by time in Beijing, where students will be able to explore urban China and experience the stark contrast to the YEMS portion of the trip. All parts of the trip help to complete a comprehensive experience of modern China and its diversity.

Trip Date: June 8-21

Trip Leader(s): Michael Dziura

Price: $4,500

Focus: Cultural and Economic Studies

Deadline: October 1, 2012

Description: WMA, in conjunction with various other prep schools including Lawrenceville, Hathaway Brown, Hotchkiss and Cape Henry are running a joint trip to Cambodia as part of the Global Education Benchmark Group. The trip will focus on the recent history of Cambodia including the rise of the Khmer Rouge, the genocide in the late 1970’s as well as the economic and cultural recovery of that country. Highlights will include visits to Phnom Penh and the temples of Angkor Wat. As this trip is being run jointly with other schools, there is a three-student limit to which each school must adhere. Preference will be given to students who have demonstrated a strong record of academics and responsible WMA citizenship.