BY WILL BUTERBAUGH
A group of Eudora High School students recently took a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands to learn about science, conservation and culture.
The eight-day trip in mid-March consisted of three days in Quito, Ecuador, and five days on the Galapagos Islands. Students spent their time touring, hiking and engulfing themselves in nature.
The purpose of the trip was to teach students about biology and its applications through real life experiences, especially when it comes to the conservation efforts on the Galapagos Islands, said history teacher Jason Tharp, lead chaperone on the trip.
“It was incredible to see how they were doing so much with so little, and I think a lot of our kids really got to see how a little effort on their part can have a pretty big impact on the environment,” Tharp said. “They got to see that by going to the Galapagos and seeing all the programs they have in place there, and it was a pretty unique experience.”
Every year, Eudora High School sends a group of students on a trip like this one. The locations are chosen by Tharp based on where he believes would be the best opportunity for students. The trips are paid for by students and their families.
While the trips are intended to teach the students about a specific subject, the experience of being in a new culture is what the teachers believe is most important.
“The location doesn’t really matter, I don’t think,” Tharp said. “I think just getting kids out of their comfort zones and getting them to travel someplace around the world and see how other people do life is a great learning experience for them.”
Spanish teacher Kim Lancaster shared the sentiment.
“In my eyes, the purpose of the trip was to expose students to a different way of life,” she said.
Lancaster said she wanted students to walk away from the trip with “a willingness to be open, for example, to new kinds of foods, to maybe getting a little uncomfortable,” and to “appreciate people who are different from you.”
One student on the trip learned firsthand about sea life in the Galapagos.
“My favorite part overall was probably snorkeling on Isabela Island and Santa Cruz Island, because I’ve never been snorkeling, and getting up close and personal with sea life,” senior Jayden Pierce said. “Funny story: I actually accidently almost stepped on a sea turtle. I was adjusting my snorkel and the guy looked at me and pointed down and I looked below me and it was right there. So that was really cool to me.”
Over the course of the trip, Pierce feels he received the traveling experiences his teachers hoped he would.
“It was, for me, an unbelievable experience,” Pierce said. “Seeing the different landscapes and cultures was pretty eye-opening. Being in Quito and being in the mountains and then being on the beach and on the islands was really cool because we got to see kinda two different parts of the world right next to each other, all in one trip.”
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