Page 19 - Laguna Blanca Magazine Summer 2018

This past March, 68 adventurous students and nine dedicated
faculty and staff members headed to the City of Light as part
of Laguna’s fourth annual Global Urban Studies Initiative. The
program—grounded heavily in experiential learning—takes Upper
School students out of the classroom and places them into the center
of the complicated and fascinating cultures of major metropolitan cities
around the world, including New York, London, and New Orleans.
The 2018 trip to Paris, once again led by English Instructor and
Experiential Learning Coordinator Ashley Tidey, was an action-
packed, weeklong immersion into French culture, combined with
teachings from students’ English, history, French, current events, and
art history courses.
Months of preparation went into this research-based learning
adventure, which culminated into a relaxed and informative evening
for students and their parents. The event included a physical gallery of
creative projects along with more than a dozen student presentations
that ranged from the French Resistance in World War II to French rap,
street art, and modern fashion.
“What I love most about the trips—and the curriculum driven by A stop at famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company
them—is the endless opportunity to learn alongside the students,” says
Tidey. “And for the students to learn alongside each other.”

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:

• Cheering on France with 80,000 fans in their football
match against Colombia
• Discovering the Seine by boat
• Admiring Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles and its gardens
• Lighting candles in Notre Dame
• Paying homage to an artistic master at Musée Picasso
• Shopping and strolling the Champs Elysees
• Walking the famous D-Day beaches
• Marveling at The Thinker at the Rodin Museum
• Exploring the Musée D’Orsay

“My favorite part of the trip was when we
went to the market and bought cheese and

baguettes and then skipped about on the
cobblestone streets eating meringues while
figuring out what the newspaper said. In those
moments, I felt like I was at the very center of
French life itself.”

–SOPHIA WEBSTER ’21
SUMMER 2018

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