A trip across the pond for some area students next year will bring history to life

Hilltop High School is planning for the next student trip, scheduled for 2024, and presented its case to the Northern Gateway School Board trustees at a recent meeting. Hilltop principal Brent Northcott and English/Social Studies/Construction/Military Studies teacher Pam Mehl provided a breakdown of next year’s trip plans.

“We are proposing a trip that’s out of the norm for next year. We usually do our trips on Spring Break, but next year is the 80th anniversary of D-Day and Veterans Affairs Canada is hosting a big event at Juno Beach. We would like our students to be a part of that to experience that history,” explained Northcott.

Mehl said that students would experience the Menin Gate and that the trip would overlap WW1 and WW2 as they would also visit the Vimy Ridge Memorial. “We have Juno Beach, Anne Frank’s house, and they are going to get the immersion they have from their literature from English class.” She said seeing where Anne Frank lived would give students living history. “They can actually be where she was hiding from the nazis. It’s a great experience.”

NGPS chair Barb Maddigan spoke of one of her children experiencing a similar trip. “One of my kids got to go on that trip with Pam and had a fabulous time. I’m trying to remember the name of the Canadian comedian that they were swarming on the beach.” Mehl and Northcott, with big smiles on their faces, answered in unison that it was Canadian comedian Rick Mercer. Students had spotted him at the Vimy Ridge Memorial, which was a highlight for them.

Mehl said the opportunity to learn from history happens in many ways on these trips. She spoke of when students went to Dieppe. “While we were there, a little old lady came up to us and started speaking in French, saying, “never let them forget.” One of the kids spoke fluent French, and they were talking to her. She was thirteen when the Canadians hit the beach at Dieppe, and her mother was a nurse. She and her mother were tasked with pulling the injured and dead Canadians off the beach. So, at thirteen, she helped nurse our soldiers back to health,” explained Mehl.

“She was standing in front of the kids going, “don’t let them forget what the Canadians did here.” They knew it was a test before D-Day, so it was amazing meeting her. She made a huge impact with our kids. Those opportunities, I can’t teach those. They happen on the trip. They learn things that you can’t teach in a classroom.”

Trustee Steinke asked about the trip’s timeline, pointing to the fact that it was planned outside of Spring Break. “Normally, school trips occur during a Spring Break or something where there is a limited amount of loss of class time, and this one clearly is time specific. We’re not going to change dates in history,” he grinned. “What provisions are being made to make sure students are not going to fall behind, especially grade twelve students?”

Principal Northcott said that most teachers had their work loaded on Google Classroom and that homework time would be set aside. He said students could work on their studies when they returned to their hotels. Chair Maddigan chuckled, as did other trustees. “There’s some disbelief in the room,” she laughed as they reacted to students doing homework on a school trip.

Mehl said they’ve had students bring textbooks along on a trip before but that they highly discourage it. “Generally, the list of names of students is out ahead of time so the teachers know they’re going to be away so they would know what concepts the students are going to miss. We do have the ability to issue each one of the children one of the Chromebooks to take with them in their backpacks so they could do it on the Wi-Fi at the hotel.”

But, Mehl pointed out, the learning on the trip is directly related to the grade eleven and twelve studies and would reinforce what they’ve learned in English and Social Studies. “Some of it is also going to be in Science because they talk about the areas that you can no longer go to in France because they’re toxic from the amount of gas and other things.”

She said there would be museums and first-hand accounts, including farmers dealing with the remnants of war, like digging up shells and environmental impacts. She said that Veterans Affairs Canada books an entire stadium. “They reconfigure it to look like trenches, maps, and all sorts of things. What they are teaching them reinforces everything that we have done.” Unlike other school trips that last nearly two weeks, the trip planned for 2024 has students away for only six days.

Trustee Peck agreed with the trip’s importance, calling the learning experience “immeasurable.” She said she had concerns about the price, which was over $5,000. “I know when my children went, it was closer to the low $ 4,000’s, and I know with recent trips that we have spoken about them climbing up to the $4,700 mark. We need to be cognizant of and be careful as to how much we start getting into a cost for families for these trips. Obviously, you can’t put a price on these experiences, but to make (them) available to more of our students.”

Mehl explained that flights and hotel costs had increased, also food. She said students could do school fundraisers to keep costs down, but not all students take advantage of the opportunity. “Of the 19 kids going to Ireland, I had ten that participated in the first (fundraiser) and six that participated in the second. Some of the kids pay for themselves. Even in previous trips, I’ve had students pay for all the trips by working at Mcdonald’s.” She said the company they use for planning the trips has a monthly payment plan which allows students to spread out the cost. The sooner they get the green light on a trip, the longer the students can pay for it and the lower the monthly fees.

Trustee Hailes said that students from Fox Creek, who had gone on a school trip, gave a presentation on the experience to their parents upon arrival home. “That was powerful. Each student told a story about what it meant to them. It was amazing what the kids got out of that. Some of it had a lot to do with education, and some of it was just personal growth. It was fantastic. I would encourage that to happen.” He also said he would love to see a presentation come to the trustee board. Northcott noted, “we would love to do that.”

Hailes motioned to approve, in principle, the Hilltop High School 2024 D-Day 80: Juno and the Road to Liberation International Field Trip to Netherlands, Belgium and France trip, which passed unanimously.