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Travel the World While You’re in High School

Greece and Italy Tour Group lead by Mrs. Webster, Summer 2024. Photo courtesy of Renique Webster.
Greece and Italy Tour Group lead by Mrs. Webster, Summer 2024. Photo courtesy of Renique Webster.

Today, global travel is considered a luxury for many across the world. This is largely because of the cost of travel; food, flight, lodging, and other expenses that are included all add up to a big price tag. On top of that, planning everything is a hassle to deal with. However, the company, EF Tours, solves many problems associated with traveling. EF Tours is a company that hosts tours of countries all over the world. The tours organize flights, breakfasts and dinners, lodging, and daily activities. Plus, attendees will have a native tour guide to give them an in-depth and authentic journey through what the country has to offer. This relieves the customer of stress from planning all of this out by themselves, and the trips are generally cheaper than they would be if someone were left to make their own arrangements.

EF Tours made their way to Verrado High School in 2020 when freshman Ian Chavez introduced the idea of a trip to Japan to Mrs. Barnes, an English teacher at the time. According to Ian, “I thought it would be fun to learn about culture and societies with my friends and I wanted to see the topics I learned about in AP Human Geography come to life.” So he did just that. The trip to Japan was initially set to occur in 2020, but due to COVID-19 it wasn’t possible, and because of Japan’s strict travel restrictions in the years following the pandemic, the trip was further delayed until spring of 2023. Luckily, it was in time to see Japan’s iconic cherry blossoms.

Verrado Student Tour Group with teacher staff in pose in front of iconic Japanese architecture. Courtesy of Ian Chavez.

Since the first trip in 2023, one other trip has taken place. This tour, chaperoned by Mrs. Webster, went to Greece and Italy this past summer, and students loved it. Sean Threlkel, a Senior at Verrado said, “I chose to go on the trip because I had never traveled outside of the US before and the farthest I traveled before then was my move from Indiana to here. I also wanted to experience something completely out of my realm of familiarity with trying new foods I couldn’t even pronounce, places so grand it really doesn’t set in until you’ve been home for 5 months.”

There have been only two trips so far, but there are more to come in the future. In 2025, there will be two trips, one to Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, and another trip to Japan. The following year, 2026, EF tours will be headed to South Korea and Japan, and Switzerland, Italy, and France. To go more in-depth, the trip to Germany, Italy, and Switzerland will include beautiful scenery in all three countries, taking tours of historical buildings such as castles, churches, and even the Olympic stadium. They will also take guided tours of Munich, Venice, Lucerne, and Heidelberg. Students will have the option to pay for a three-day extension of the trip which will go to Strasbourg, Paris, and Versailles. The same amount of depth is applied to other trips, like the one going to Japan, which includes famous sights like Mout. Fuji, the Golden Pavilion, the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, and cities like Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nara.

During an EF STEM Tour, Verrado student, Jaden Barrero helps till soil in the Dominican Republic for a local environmental college. (Jaden Barrero)

EF Tours often range from around $2,000 to $8,000 depending on where you go, and that can raise lots of eyebrows. While it is fun to explore a new country and see all of its beauty, trips aren’t all about sightseeing. Indulging in a culture outside of your own can give you a new perspective on how you and others around you live. Mrs. Barnes said, “EF Tours give students the opportunity to experience a culture and place outside of their own, and that can really give students an advantage when it comes to interviews and/or college and scholarship applications. High school students sometimes struggle to speak to larger life experiences at this point in their lives, especially if they’ve lived in the same same-ish place most or all of their lives. It’s a really great experience that students can draw on for time to come. The company also offers guides that students can use to write about and incorporate the trip into college essays.”

On a final note, EF Tours has shown not only VHS students but students all over the world that education is not confined by the walls of a classroom but that it can happen anywhere. So whether you’re on vacation with family or a trip to another country, the opportunity to learn will always travel with you.

If you would like more information on the upcoming EF Tours trips, here are links to the itineraries:
Germany, Italy, and Switzerland – 2025
Japan – 2025
South Korea and Japan – 2026
Switzerland, Italy, and France – 2026

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