Saturday, May 18, 2024
Gatesville High School Social Studies teacher Bonnie Latham recently announced her collaboration with EF Explore America to take sophomore and junior students to the historic Boston area. The EF program designs class trips that are specifically crafted to help educators teach while students enjoy new experiences and learn from different places around the nation.
Latham expressed that she has always wanted to bring travel opportunities to Gatesville High School, but the timing has never been right for her, until now.
“I chose Boston because I've been there before and it's such an amazing city, steeped in American history,” she said. “Eventually, after we've seen success with the domestic tours, I would love to go international, but that may be a few years down the road.”
This will be a five-day class trip from May 31 to June 4 of 2025. Students will visit many sites in the historic areas of Boston.
Day one of the trip will include exploring Charlestown and visiting the New England Holocaust Memorial. Day two consists of visiting the Boston Tea Party ships and museum as well as a guided tour of the Lexington and Concord. Day three will include more museums, a guided tour of Boston and Cambridge, a Lobster Tales boat cruise, and a theater performance. On day four, students will visit one of Salem’s witch museums, the House of the Seven Gables, and take a duck boat tour. Lastly, on day five there will be a tour of Fenway Park and the students will visit the Museum of Science.
There is no limit to the number of students who can attend the trip.
“EF provides a tour leader, and for every 10 students who enroll, a chaperone spot opens up for a GHS employee,” she said. “I'm hoping we can enroll at least 35 students because the tour becomes private, which means we don't share tours and excursions with any other schools.”
EF usually keeps the tours below 45 students, because if there is more than that, it will put the students on two separate buses for transportation.
“The rep said, if we had 10-15 families on the waitlist, then they would potentially open it up beyond 45 students,” she said.
As far as funding goes for the trip, Latham plans to coordinate fundraising opportunities for the students who will be traveling to Boston.
“There's no guarantee when it comes to how much we can raise, but I plan on having fundraisers,” she said. “I've also applied for a grant through the Education Foundation to set up a local scholarship opportunity, and there are scholarship opportunities through EF as well.”
EF also creates a "Go Fund Me" page for each student who enrolls, and students can use this to help them raise money as well. There will be many avenues available for students to raise money, but ultimately it is up to the student and their family beyond those avenues to meet the financial requirements.
Those interested in the class trip to Boston are welcome to attend the enrollment meeting on Tuesday, May 7. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the Gatesville High School Auditorium and will cover more details regarding the trip.
Information that will be discussed at the meeting includes the itinerary, activities, dates, academic opportunities, the cost, and EF’s risk-free enrollment period. It is mandatory to register to the meeting, so be sure to register by visiting https://bit.ly/3W9pTRB.
“I studied abroad during my master’s program at Tarleton and, even though it happened almost 15 years ago, I still look back on my experiences and appreciate what I learned about history and myself,” she said.
“I'm so grateful to Dr. Pollard and Mrs. Shoaf for supporting this idea and the GISD School Board for approving our partnership with EF Tours,” she said. “I hope to bring travel opportunities to fun and educational destinations for many years to come.”
Latham recounted that Mark Twain said it best, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
“Travel is one of the greatest things to improve understanding of the world we live in,” she said. “The impacts of educational tours are endless and lifelong.”
