Why Advisory Trips?

Photo: Mr Tien's advisory traveled to the Minnesota North Shore.

Advisory trips have come to pass successfully once again. These trips allow advisory groups to to get to know each other better and learn new things. Advisory groups meet at the beginning and end of the school day, and act like a conventional home room.

Every other year, the advisories goes on a trip together for one week. The location of the trip needs to be within a ten hour drive of school, which leads to the exploration of various locations around the area. This year, advisories went to Chicago, St. Louis, Duluth, South Dakota, and Milwaukee, leaving on April 24 and returning on April 28.

Why do advisories go on trips?

A significant goal of advisory groups is to build a close community, and develop friendships between students in different grades. Shared experiences over the course of a week can help develop these friendships.

The trips also have an educational goal. Each one is meant to answer a driving question, and works towards that goal with the places they go and activities they participate in. Upon the conclusion of these trips, advisories make presentations to show the rest of the school what they have learned.  

CCHS Principal Wendell Schaap said that the trips help develop community, and “give you the space to develop relationships.” They allow students to get to know each other in different ways, and that they combine the learning community of school with personal community, and that can work to strengthen friendships and groups.

Educationally, Mr. Schaap says the trips allow students an “experience where we can learn about the history of a city, and learn how to value it.” The trips give students the chance to learn and experience things that they would not be able to learn about or experience in a typical school class.

It teaches students to be interested in history, and to learn how to value it in ways that they would not be able to without experiencing it. Learning to appreciate the history of a place can cause students to think differently about any new place that they go.

It will be exciting to see how the Arkansas Canoe Trip and the Washington D.C. Trip go next year. They also give students unique opportunities, and contributes to their understanding of creation or government. They also both offer students the opportunity to get to know each other better. Hopefully these trips will go smoothly and enjoyably next year.

By: Rick Derfus, Editor