After a long flight and a short connection, we are all now safely settled into the hotel in Amsterdam. Here are a few photos from our trip so far. More to come once students have a little more energy to write.
Today was our Pre-Trip Orientation: a chance to bond, connect, ask questions, and get excited for Tanzania! We began by hearing from Mr. Brown, Ms. Bustamante, and Ms. Marks, who helped us think through several important questions: What are the trip’s purposes and goals? What are the expectations for student engagement and behavior? What health precautions should we keep in mind while we are there? From there, we moved into some fun “get to know each other” activities. In pairs, students performed a Disney song that best expressed how they were feeling about going to Tanzania. Then, in groups of four, students researched and shared information about Tanzania’s geography and environment, history and political system, and social, cultural, and religious makeup. As a group, we also established our “community norms” using a stoplight metaphor: Red = Behaviors we do not want on the trip No bigotry, cliques, rumors, secrecy, inappropriate clothing, or other behaviors that undermine tru...