Since 1992, I have accompanied SCPS educational tours to Central America (Costa Rica, Mexico) and Europe (Austria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland). Organized by EF Educational Tours – the largest student travel company in the world – our tours are well-designed, well-chaperoned, and offer a wealth of educational adventures outside the traditional classroom. Our experiences touch almost all areas of the curriculum – literature, history, foreign language, geography, economics and more.

We have visited the sites of the French Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the London Blitzkrieg, and the Dachau Nazi death camp; visited the great museums of Europe – the Louvre, the British Museum, the Prado, the Vatican – and stood close to the masterpieces of great artists from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso; seen history from 5000 B.C. come alive in ancient Greece and envisioned the suffering of the early Christians in Rome’s Coliseum; walked through Europe’s great castles and cathedrals and climbed the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon in Teotihúacan; experienced the lush English countryside of the poet Wordsworth, the arid Spanish plains of Don Quixote’s La Mancha, and the rainforests and volcanoes of Costa Rica. We have also met other students and teachers from all over the United States during our travels together.

“Georgia is best served by young people who understand other cultures, who speak a second language, and who have had a study abroad experience. We must produce students who are prepared to be world citizens.”  - UGA President Michael Adams,    Georgia Magazine, September 2005

Students often return with a new interest in learning, and their grades often improve. Five upcoming 2004-05 Spanish III students who toured Spain with me in June of 2004 were quite enthusiastic about completing units on Spanish art, literature, and history during the school year because they had experienced many of those cities and paintings firsthand.

Students also gain valuable new perspectives on other cultures, as well as their own. They gain essential life skills through travel, become more self-confident, learn to try new foods, and see first-hand how others live.

Organized educational travel outside the United States enhances college applications and resumes. Colleges look for international travel experiences, and students can use their experiences in a variety of ways. My daughter’s tour-related essay helped her earn a college scholarship at the University of Georgia.

We invite you to join us this summer for the following tours:

• Madrid to Barcelona (Tour #319419)
  Leaves Savannah June 8th, 2006. Twelve days beginning in Madrid and including visits to Burgos, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona, and Barcelona. See beautiful central and northern Spain and spend a few days on the Mediterranean beaches.
   
• London to Edinburgh (Tour #368442)
  Leaves Savannah July 10th, 2006. Eleven days in Great Britain including visits to London, Oxford, Stratford, York, and Edinburgh with trips to St. Andrews, Stirling Castle and the Trossachs.