ASHTABULA — In the coming months, the students of Ss. John and Paul will be given the chance to go on two trips. Some students and family members will be going on a 10-day trip to Spain with a day-trip to Morocco. Many more will be going on the weekend trip to Chicago where on the return trip home they will be able to visit the campus of Notre Dame University. This is a great opportunity for students to learn something new while spending time with their friends.
On the weekend of March 19 through 21, students will be leaving for their trip, Scholastica Travels Inc., to Chicago through Robert Potts, the trip chaperone and adviser.
Mr. Potts explained why he chose Chicago. “I was just trying a variety of places,” he said. “Chicago, it’s an interesting place to visit, students seem to like it. The students also seem to like visiting Notre Dame.”
After school on March 19 the students will leave for Chicago and arrive at the Comfort Suites Oak Brook Terrace at 8:30 p.m. where students will be able to use the hotel amenities if time allows. On the road there, they will experience a one-hour time change when they enter the Central Time Zone. On March 20 the students will visit the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History; the John G. Shedd Aquarium where they will see a mammal presentation at the Oceanarium and the Wild Reef exhibit. They will also visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and take the Untouchable Time Roaring ’20s Gangster Tour where the guides will be dressed up as gangsters and where they will get to see the homes and other places of gangsters like John Dillinger. Before returning to the hotel, the students will have dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and explore Navy Pier. On March 21 the students will be attending Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame. The students will also receive a tour of the campus and get a chance to see Touchdown Jesus at the stadium. After visiting the campus, students will board the bus and return home by 8 p.m.
“I think it’s a great educational experience for students and it’s like a classroom on wheels,” said Mr. Potts. “I’m sure kids will remember it better when they’re looking at a monument than if a teacher just showed them it in a classroom. It’s also a great opportunity to spend time with friends or make new friends because other students from other grades will be going as well.”
Students are especially excited to go and spend time with friends, like sophomore Ralphie Pugliese. “All of my friends are going and I’d like to share this experience with them, especially since a lot of my friends are seniors and will be going away to college next year; I won’t get to see them as much,” he said.
During the week of March 25 Spanish students, including senior Mikenzie Zullo and juniors Chase Fleckenstein, Peyton Longden and Jillian Pope, and other SSJP family members will be going with adviser Erin Adame on a 10-day trip through Education First Tours to Spain. The trip includes visits to the cities of Madrid, Toledo, Consuegra, Granada, Costa del Sol, Tetouan, Morocco, Seville and Cordoba. The students will see world famous sites such as the Palacio Real, the Prado Museum and the windmills of Crestería Manchega that Don Quixote mistook as giants. They will also see the Alhambra, the Moorish Alcázar and the Plaza del Torros bull ring in Seville.
To raise money for the trip, Spanish Club has been selling pepperoni rolls, candy skulls, chocolate roses and chocolate Catrina Skulls.
Mrs. Adame feels that the trip is a great experience for the students. “One of the most important reasons to go is to further their classroom experience,” she said. “They’re going to see first-hand some of the things they’re just reading about; they get to try the food and speak the language with the people.”
Mikenzie Zullo is looking forward to immersing herself into a new culture. “I'm excited to learn more about the culture by actually being engaged in it,” she said. “I am really excited to see all of the old architecture and art work. I want to use everything that I have learned the past five years of Spanish while I’m there to make it the best trip possible.”
These are great experiences for the students of Ss. John and Paul. They get to see places they are learning about and share that experience with friends. The trip to Spain is an especially unique experience because it will be the first time in more than 20 years that students from Ss. John and Paul will go on a trip to Europe.
