By Esa Gadson
In the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, students and faculty from Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools recently traveled abroad, gaining the opportunity to experience science, nature and culture outside the classroom.
From Feb. 15 to 23, during their winter recess, 32 students and five faculty members trekked to the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador on a nine-day trip in partnership with Education First Tours, a global education travel company for students and teachers. Founded in 1965 by Bertil Hult, the company offers travel programs that combine learning with international and domestic travel.
This was the students’ first opportunity to travel abroad with their schools. “I’m one of the guys who begged our school district to have EF Tours come and give us this opportunity,” said Stel Pefanis, social studies teacher at Mepham High School.
The tour company offers specialized tours in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the South Pacific. For this trip, students and faculty traveled to Quito, Santa Cruz Island, Isabela Island and San Cristóbal Island as part of EF’s “Charting the Galápagos Islands” tour.
“We’re going to travel to the place that I teach about,” said Daytona Melo, earth science and chemistry teacher at Calhoun High School.
Within the school’s curriculum, students are exposed to topics related to the trip’s destinations in certain of their science courses.
“The Galápagos hot spot is on the earth science reference tables. There’s the plate boundaries that cause the Peru-Chile trench right by Ecuador to form the Andes Mountains,” Melo said. “This is a perfect spot for [the students] to go, having already learned some of the stuff and getting to build on it.”
In their living environment courses, students also studied “The Beaks of Finches Lab,” a simulation inspired by biologist Charles Darwin’s research in the Galápagos Islands on natural selection and evolution.
While the trip had a strong science focus, students also experienced the region’s culture and natural beauty. “We snorkeled, we saw a lot of animal life,” said Gabriella Volpe, earth science teacher at Kennedy High School. “It was very much immersive, and seeing the science and landscapes, and the untouched, uninhabited land there, was really cool and interesting for the students.”
Some of the group’s other excursions included seeing animals exclusive to the islands, hiking along volcanoes, exploring a local market in Quito and visiting the Palacio de Carondelet, the seat of government and residence of the president of Ecuador.
For Pefanis, he emphasized that the trip was an opportunity for the students to learn about science and culture. “As a social studies teacher, every time I got a chance, especially speaking with our guide, I would focus on the culture and the actual people,” he said.
The group mingled with the local population and practiced language skills when they visited the Quito Market. They conversed and bartered when buying souvenirs.
The South American festival, Carnival, also took place during the group’s trips. “There were three days that they were experiencing carnival, and it happened to be when we were there,” Melo said. “So cultural, historical, scientific and language — all in one trip.”
The educators said it was rewarding to see their students learn and enjoy themselves, as well as to build bonds that they made with their fellow students.
“We see each other in the hallways, and it’s this weird, strange bond that we always feel comfortable around each other,” Pefanis said.
“The students that would come in shy didn’t know anyone going in. The smiles and the friends that they made by the last day were amazing,” Melo said. “I had tears in my eyes.”
The Bellmore-Merrick Board of Education has already approved another travel plan for next year. Students and faculty members will head to Machu Picchu and the Amazon on a 11–day trip, continuing the out-of-classroom learning experience.
Of the most recent trip, Volpe said, “We should be really grateful for it because less than one percent of the world’s population gets to travel to the Galápagos. And we’re part of that statistic now.”
