From embarking on a safari to walking in Civil Rights activists’ footsteps, upper school students have the opportunity to explore Kenya and the American South on two new Archer Abroad trips, which were announced Friday, Sept. 22.
The civil rights trip to the American South will occur March 22-27, 2024. History teacher and Director of the Artemis Center Beth Gold is leading this trip and said she is excited about the re-launch of the Archer Abroad program after it took a hiatus due to COVID-19. This will be the second Archer Abroad trip after their hiatus, with the first being the trip to France and Belgium.
Gold attended the civil rights trip herself through an outside organization last year to explore what the program entails and to see if it was fit for students to attend.
“I believe students are going to learn some very important history,” Gold said. “This trip is as important as going to Philadelphia, Washington D.C. or Boston to learn about American history. It’s a painful period of American history. It’s difficult content. It’s unsettling, but I think it’s vitally important.”
Gold explained the trip will be interactive and informative. Through a program outside of Archer, students will have the opportunity to hear from experts who have dedicated their time to learning about these subjects and periods of U.S. history.
“There’s nothing that can compare to being in some of these museums — walking the path of Bayard Rustin, MLK and John Lewis,” Gold said. “Interacting with people at museums who have the expertise and telling these stories — adding more complexity and nuance to this period of history is very beneficial.”
In addition to the trip to the American South, students also have the opportunity to travel across the world to Kenya, and this trip will take place June 3-13, 2024.
Chinese teacher and Archer Abroad director Pei-Ying Gosselin will be accompanying students on the trip to Kenya. Gosselin said she hopes many students sign up for the Kenya trip because it relates to what they are learning in biology, particularly about animals in Africa and biologists’ efforts to keep them safe and well-accounted for.
Gosselin said she is excited about going to Kenya because it is different than past Archer Abroad trips, as it is not connected to a language class.
“This trip is designed based on Archer’s mission statement,” Gosselin said. “One of Archer’s missions is to prepare our students to become a global citizen and encourage our girls through a purposeful, inquiry-driven curriculum to develop critical thinking.”
Students attending the Kenya trip will immerse themselves in Kenya’s community and work on different service learning projects.
“There are different projects that the students will work on,” Gosselin said. “For example, there is a project with a primary school that lacks many resources, so we will learn about how to enhance the students’ resources. We might build tables and chairs or help them hands-on.”
Other service projects and interactive learning on the Kenya trip will include helping different women’s organizations, working with a wildlife sanctuary and learning about the United Nations’ global sustainability efforts.
Dylan Evans-Robinson (’25) plans to apply for the Kenya trip and said she is excited about it because she is passionate about animals and wants to learn new information about wildlife and culture.
“I’m most excited to see the safari and seeing animals, helping animals,” Evans-Robinson said. “I also want to learn how to blow darts, which is something they spoke about in the information meeting.”
Both Gosselin and Gold said attending these Archer Abroad trips will provide students with learning they cannot absorb in a classroom.
“I would say you can understand global challenges in the classroom, but going on the trip to experience and to see what the problems really are is important,” Gosselin said. “For students to reflect and learn about this and not see it from a textbook or in the media is much better. Kenya has very little resources, but you won’t feel that until you experience it, and you see it with your own eyes. We will look at these problems and come up with solutions, and that is amazing.”
