Elaine Loft
Derryfield offers a variety of global travel experiences every year to students in both middle and upper school. In the past, students have traveled to South Africa, Nepal, Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy and Vietnam.
In 2024, Derryfield students and faculty chaperones will travel to Bolivia, the Bahamas, Germany and Poland, Quebec and North Carolina. These trips will offer the participants the opportunity to learn about history, culture, or the natural world, and also to give back to the communities they visit.
Bolivia will be a Spanish immersion experience, in which upper school students will learn about ancient Andean traditions and beliefs, engage in Spanish and Quechua language activities, practice traditional weaving, and explore sustainable agroforestry. Students will spend five days with homestay families and teachers in Tiquipaya, before taking a short flight over the Andes to La Paz (the highest capital city in the world at 12-13000′). From La Paz, the students will hike to a glacier with a group of indigenous female guides, visit a museum of indigenous life, and spend a day working with a youth theater group in La Paz’s sister city of El Alto.
On the trip to the Bahamas, middle school students will fly into Rock Sound and stay at the Island School campus in Eleuthera for the week. They will take part in experiential activities on land and in the water such as biking and snorkeling; participating in marine ecology and wildlife research; building team and leadership skills.
In Germany and Poland, upper school students will study the history of World War II and the Holocaust. Beginning in Berlin, this program will examine the history of the Third Reich at the Deutsches Historisches Museum and visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. After traveling to Warsaw by train, students will study the history of the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as the Warsaw Uprising, before visiting Lazienki Park and the Royal Castle.The program will conclude in Krakow, where students will view the city’s Old Synagogue and travel to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp and the factory where Oskar Schindler saved the lives of some 1,200 European Jews.
Middle school students will travel by charter bus to the province of Quebec, Canada to explore Montreal, as well as the cobblestone streets of Quebec City, the only fortified city north of Mexico. Students will explore the rich history of these cities, their indigenous and immigrant cultures, and sample French Canadian cuisine.
This year Derryfield will be celebrating its 17th year in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The upper school students will travel to Winston-Salem, NC to spend a week building homes alongside construction staff and local volunteers. Aside from working hard and learning new skills, students who participate in this annual event come home with a sense of satisfaction and appreciation for the need for affordable housing.
