by Jeffrey Stanley
Brooklyn Friends School students and teachers have been on the move this semester, with school-sponsored trips to Peru, Canada, and Mexico.
Seventeen upper uchool students, led by faculty Dr. Jon DeGraff, Roxanne Zazzaro and Mark Buenzle, visited Peru over spring break. The idea for a trek to the South American country originated with Dr. DeGraff, who had led a trip to Brazil in 2006. “It was my baby, with much help from Roxanne,” he said. Aside from seeing the sights and practicing their language skills, students also performed a community service project during their visit, helping to paint a school. That small gesture, combined with making a trip outside the United States, helped the students understand our global community just a little better, explained Dr. DeGraff. It can also impact teachers. “I teach world history,” he said, “and much of the information we learned and sites we visited pertained to Incan culture and history.”
Sophomore Ellie Williams, a book lover and member of the diversity subcommittee, also feels she came away from the trip with a heavy dose of Latin American history. She was impressed that Peru has managed to maintain its culture and identity throughout the centuries, and she was particularly happy that they got to see the ancient Machu Pichu settlement high in the Andes. “I had always wanted to see it so I decided to take the opportunity,” she said. The community service project was a lot of fun for her. “Interacting with the kids and seeing how they lived taught me more about the culture, which I believe is something very important to look at while traveling in a new country. I believe it will help me be more informed about the world.”
Mark Buenze agreed. “Contact with other cultures is broadening in a way that can’t be replicated by vicarious learning. I think students were able to notice aspects of themselves they might not have noticed otherwise,” he said, “how they handled the physical challenges of the Amazon, how they responded aesthetically to the sites we saw, how flexible they were, how cooperative.”
Not to be outdone, Middle School French and Spanish students trekked to Quebec and Mexico this semester. The Quebec trip, which takes place every other year, happened in February and was chaperoned by by Sue Aaronson, Traci Bucci and Marie-Christine Perry. “I really enjoyed the dog sledding and tubing at Val Cartier,” said Traci, adding that trips like this help build school spirit. “It was an excellent way for students to learn about Francophone, specifically Quebecois culture.”
Eighth grader Conor Heins has been studying French for two years and says he went on the trip to try out his conversational skills. “I was anxious to speak French with people who learned it as their first language and to experience the history and culture of the Quebecois people.” He and the other students stayed with Quebec families, so he got plenty of opportunities. “I was lucky that the mother of my host family had English as a second language, but it was still tough to speak with the rest of the family.” Still, he added that “eventually we started getting pretty good at it.”
Middle School Spanish students have been visiting Mexico every year for seven years now. Art teacher and Mexiphile Ellen Kahan and her husband Alejandro Kahan, both fluent in Spanish, were the chaperones for the trip to Guanajuato. “I loved the gorgeous town, the climate and a fabulous, fun loving group of students,” she said. “Just to be able to live with a Mexican family and be a part of their lives for eight days is a great learning experience for all of our students.”
Guanajuato is not only rich in native and colonial history, it has a long artistic tradition and is the birthplace of painter Diego Rivera, so Ellen saw the trip not only as a language experience for her students but an enhancement to her BFS ceramics courses. “It fits into my curriculum because of all the pottery and crafts in Mexican homes, stores, and museums.”
Eighth grader Lucca Castrucci also appreciated the region on an aesthetic level. “All the buildings were built in a manner quite different from New York,” he said. “You know the box buildings? They looked sort of like that, but they also were completely different in color. And the hills looked beautiful with the mix of rainbow colors.” Lucca has been studying Spanish for several years but still considers himself a “wannabe” Spanish speaker. “There are many small things that I was worried abut,” he said, “that I now don’t think are out of my reach.”