The word is out, and students at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School’s History Scholars Travel Program are looking forward to both domestic and international travel opportunities. Whether home or abroad, students will experience the historical significance, culture, language and much more of each destination. And travel experience looks great on any college application!

 

Enrollment has begun, as several students have already applied for the tour of Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia, scheduled for the Spring of 2013. Participants will explore the Jamestown Settlement, take a Lantern Tour of Colonial Williamsburg, visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg and visit Monticello. Among the possibilities for the summer of 2014 tour of Spain and Portugal are a walking tour of Lisbon, Castelo de Pena in Sintra, beach resorts in the Algarve, Portugal, and Spain’s Costa del Sol, Granada, Valencia and Barcelona. A side trip to Morocco in northern Africa is also an option.

 

The program is one of the many extended day opportunities at the high school where students select from a variety of courses held after school from 2:30-3:45, Monday through Thursday. Instructor, chaperone and Easton native Ms. Bre Sullivan uses this time to educate students about what they will be seeing and learning, how to pack and how to prepare for their upcoming memorable voyage. Students work on a pre-voyage portfolio which uses informational narratives, questions, maps, pictures, activities and games to build appreciation for the places and knowledge they will gain during their trip. It also includes a keepsake souvenir student travel diary for each day of the trip to record the date, day, time, location, places visited, new vocabulary, special moments, questions for the tour guide and overall impressions. 

 

Students accepted into this program are the best and brightest at Southeastern and must meet and maintain certain standards, such as a 2.5+ GPA, a sustained positive behavior record, letters of recommendation from their teachers, previous overnight travel with the school, work on a portfolio before the trip and adherence to the school’s attendance policy. Trips are fast paced and involve a lot of travel time and energy. Fundraising is a required component of the program for all students traveling on the tours. 

 

Last Spring, 16 students and their 4 chaperones saw living history first hand through their educational tour of England, Ireland and Wales. They visited Blarney Castle, a Welsh castle, Shakespeare’s birthplace, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, among others. During the 2010-2011 school year, 44 students toured Washington, D.C.

 

Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School is a public 9-12 vocational high school located in Easton, Massachusetts, serving approximately 1,250 students from the city of Brockton and the towns of East Bridgewater, Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield, Norton, Sharon, Stoughton, and West Bridgewater.