Over the course of the summer, McCallum students can be seen traveling all over the world to places like Thailand, Croatia, Italy or the Dominican Republic. Over the course of a week or so, teachers create an educational and fun experience for students through planned itineraries that include activities such as visiting and learning about historical sites with some independent exploration time. These trips are made possible through the EF tours company and the dedicated teachers who host and chaperone the trips. 

History teacher Greg Anderson has been hosting EF tours trips for ten years. Anderson first started chaperoning the trips in order to give students the chance to experience different cultures.

“They have the opportunity to travel with other students and see other parts of the world, experience different cultures and all in a safe, structured environment,” Anderson said. 

According to Anderson, the trips mostly consist of guided tours through historical sites and cities, independent exploration time and, on some trips, outdoor activities. 

“I like guided foot tours where we go into a city or a location and we just stay on foot,” Anderson said. “I also love it when we get to do outdoor stuff. Cities are fun, museums are great, but the natural scenery of these locations is pretty awesome.”

As a history teacher and fanatic, Anderson finds it surreal to stand at historically significant sights, like the ancient glaciers in Iceland, Machu Picchu in Peru and the Great Wall of China. 

Senior Abigail Peacock enjoyed learning more about Croatia on her trip with Anderson last summer, as she felt it wasn’t a typical country most people would visit. Peacock also experienced the surreal feeling of seeing history come to life through witnessing bullet holes from recent battles there, in addition to admiring the artistic features in the architecture. 

“The more recent history with the wars there, you actually had a lot of places you could still see, bullet holes and stuff like that,” Peacock said. “I didn’t know a lot about the region, but it’s really interesting because it’s a combination of Western and Eastern Europe. And then there’s some Islamic influences as well. So you go to a town and just see a really interesting mix that you wouldn’t typically think of.” 

While most of the trips that Anderson hosts are chock full of activities and historical facts, there is also quite a bit of time for students to immerse themselves into the culture without guidance, according to Peacock. 

“My favorite part was that we got a lot of time to do stuff on our own,” Peacock said. “In each city we got the good part of a day to do whatever we wanted. So you can really make the trip your own.”

Although the trips that Anderson goes on with students typically focus more on the historical aspects of places, there are also trips hosted by other teachers, such as forensics and link crew teacher Sarah Noack, that focus more on STEM. 

In recent years, Noack visited Ireland to experience the green landscape and the Dominican Republic to do conservation work with students. Similar to Anderson’s motivation behind chaperoning, Noack wants to provide an opportunity for students, especially those struggling financially, to see the world. 

“Some of the students on these trips are very well-traveled and have been to many more places than me, but for other students, it is their first time on a plane, or first time outside the country,” Noack said. “Seeing them explore places they’ve only read about or seen on TV is amazing to me. I love watching them try out new food, learn how to navigate a new city, try out their Spanish and pay for things in foreign currency. It’s all really fun and it lights me up from the inside.”

Noack’s favorite part of many of these trips, however, is not always the scientific learning, but the people she gets to meet along the way. In Ireland, Noack recalls having a very spirited tour guide who catered to their interest of studying the more female-oriented part of Irish history. 

“We had a very sweet guide, Peter O’Connor, who ended up being the cutest little grandpa figure to the girls by the end of the trip,” Noack said. “He is a bit of a renaissance man and a massive feminist, so he ended up taking us off the beaten path to show us all sorts of women-focused sites: castles, art pieces and even a women’s history walking tour through Belfast. He also played fiddle and tin flute and would play for us on our travel-heavy days.”

Despite music not being the main focus of Noack’s trip, Europe’s rich musical talent still shined through. However, Band director and AP music theory teacher Jeffrey Rudy’s trips do focus on a musical tour of European countries, including Italy, Austria and Monaco. Rudy believes in the importance of experiencing different cultures other than our own, much like Anderson and Noack.

“We get to experience [different cultures] every day because of the internet, but to actually be there in person is a whole different ballgame,” Rudy said. “The chance to travel is really, really important for everybody, not just students. The more you understand about the world, the more likely the world is going to be a better place.”

Rudy’s favorite part about his most recent trip to Prague was during a concert, when he realized the historical and musical significance of the pieces being performed. 

“It’s like, ‘wait a minute, that composer wrote it for this city, for these musicians, for this venue,’” Rudy said. “And I’m sitting here getting to experience it 100 years later. And that was just really, really, really cool.”

Junior Naomi Gostylo decided to attend the trip to Prague as well because she’s always wanted to go to Europe and wanted to learn more about music in the world around her. 

“It was a lot of fun and it was an amazing place to visit,” Gostylo said. “I have Czech Heritage and it was so special to be able to visit a country where my family was from. In addition, I saw so many absolutely amazing things there, like architecture and beautiful geography.”

However, these trips are not possible without a few challenges along the way. From the students’ perspective, Peacock believes it can be difficult to combine with other schools on the trips with Anderson. Gostylo didn’t have to combine with other schools on her trip to Prague, and only found difficulty in the flights.

”The biggest challenge was the flight over and back,” Gostylo said. “I have a fear of flying so there were a few difficult points on the plane. However, it was so worth it because I got to see an amazing place.”

According to Anderson and Noack, there can be some difficulty in organizing the trips and getting everyone to attend all the meetings leading up to departure. Rudy faces a unique challenge in Europe which has to do with the lowered legal drinking age. 

“Monitoring students while we’re away is always an issue,” Rudy said. “Since we go to Europe, and Europe has different laws regarding alcohol and things like that, we always have to be mindful of that. But to be honest, I trust my students.”

All three teachers will be hosting more trips focusing on their respective areas in the coming summer. Anderson looks forward to his trip to Japan and South Korea this summer, while the other two teachers are still in the planning process with EF tours for trips in 2027. 

“They do require a lot of work and patience, and I don’t think every teacher would enjoy doing these,” Anderson said. “But it’s something I passionately love and I hope to keep on doing for many more years.”