Caldwell County Schools’ ”Cald-Well-Traveled” group just got back from its latest adventure — this time to Ireland. And according to teacher and group leader Miranda Meeks, this tour was a long-time coming.
“Many of our travelers had been enrolled on a tour since 2018,” Meeks said. “We were supposed to depart for a tour to Panama in 2020, but we all know what happened there. So we postponed the tour till 2021.”
However, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Panama tour was canceled, and students who were registered for it were allowed to join the tour planned for Europe to learn about the Holocaust.
“Then, in February, the conflict in Ukraine began,” Meeks continued. “No longer feeling comfortable visiting Germany, Poland and Czech Republic, we requested a change of destination.” Finally, the group ended up with plans to go to Ireland.
“No one who enrolled for our 2022 tour had planned on going to Ireland,” Meeks said, “but man, did we have a great time and learn a lot! I could not have been more impressed with our students and adult travelers.”
Meeks wasn’t the only one impressed with the travelers. During their tour, the group visited Glengowla Mines, a family farm experience in Galway. Glengowla Mines shared a photo of the group on its Facebook page, along with the comment, saying it was “delighted to have this wonderful group of American students on site today for a full cultural experience. They were so interested and interacted at every level.” The farm said that it was highly impressed with the group.
Travelers also got to visit the Irish Sea, Inisheer Island, Galway, Dublin, the Cliffs of Moher and many other destinations all over Ireland.
Meeks explained the group is called “Cald-Well-Traveled” because she feels called to make sure that students are well traveled. The first tour the program did was in 2018 to Italy and Greece, and it took 44 travelers. This trip to Ireland had 37 travelers.
Meeks and the chaperones do a lot of work with the travelers before they depart. There are workshops that help them prepare for travel, including packing, sketchbook work and the types of culture and content they will encounter. Meeks said the workshops provide a great way for travelers to bond before departure.
“As teachers, on our best day in the classroom, the most we can hope to offer students is a fast food version of what they’re learning about,” Meeks said. “Educational travel is a pure nutritional smorgasbord of experiential learning not duplicable within classroom walls. I love how travel cracks open so many possibilities within our students. By seeing other places in the world, students learn to see where they’re from with new eyes.”
It’s clear from the students’ comments about the trip that they appreciated the experience.
“This opportunity was incredible,” said Ali Southard, a student at Caldwell County. “I learned so much about the country, people, food and history. I was able to make new friends that I wouldn’t have even talked to while at school. I was able to get out of my comfort zone. I can feel that I have gained more confidence in myself. I have opened up more to those around me.”
“I would recommend one of these trips to everyone,” Southard continued. “Everyone needs this type of opportunity.”
These trips also allow students to connect the things they learn about in classrooms to real-world implications, as explained by student Ella Beshear.
“This past year in school I took World History,” said Beshear, “and it just so happens that some of the things that Brian (the group’s tour guide) was talking about, I actually learned in class.”
“Like one day he started talking about the Reformation and Ireland during that time,” she continued. “As soon as he said, I thought to myself, ‘Hey, I learned about that in school.’ It was really cool to come on this trip and tie it together with what I learned in school. So, I think that these opportunities are great for students to broaden the things that they learn at school.”
Parents and chaperones also enjoyed getting to watch students have these experiences. Malissa Thomas is a parent who also chaperoned the trip.
“The opportunity to travel matters so much to our students,” Thomas said. “I’ve watched these students transform and gain confidence right before my eyes. They need to be aware that this world is a magnificently vast place, and there is so much culture to be experienced beyond our borders.”
“Hopefully, this trip will give them the confidence to want to go,” she continued. “The ability to travel may be the motivation that some need to reach the level of success they would have never reached otherwise.”
Even though they recognized the benefit to students, the chaperones also benefited from the experience.
“I think this opportunity has helped all of us learn about another country’s culture and history,” said Laura Hill, a chaperone on the trip.
“It has also helped build people’s confidence about being able to travel. We have met so many nice people who wanted to share about their country and wanted to learn about ours. It also helped us know that what the media says about something is not the whole picture.”
At the end of the trip, travelers were able to share something they learned. (Names were left off for privacy reasons.) These are some of the things that they shared:
• “I learned that I will be okay on my first day of college. I will also be able to be on my own without my parents. This is something I have been afraid to do. I went on my first plane and went to a different country without them. If I can do that, I can do a lot of things.”
• “I learned I need a certain level of control over my choices to be happy/comfortable.”
• “I learned that I can branch off and try new things. Before coming on this trip I hated trying new things and liked things to stay the same. Now I know that it is kind of fun to try new things.”
• “I learned that I spend too much money.”
• “I learned that I don’t like fish and chips.”
• “I learned to go out of my comfort zone and to form new relationships with people because close friendships make everything more enjoyable.”
Meeks would like to thank the travelers and community for their support through this trip. All throughout it, she shared that their tour director kept bragging on how well behaved the students were, and that they should be used as an example for how to prepare for and handle a tour.
“This compliment means everything to me,” Meeks said. “Knowing our travelers represented our school, town, state and country in such a positive way makes me very proud.”
The program currently has travelers enrolled on two different tours for 2023. There are still spots available for both, and students must be in grades 9-12 during the 2022-2023 school year. During spring break in 2023, the group will be traveling to Barcelona and Madrid in Spain. During summer break 2023, the group will be traveling to Greece.
Meeks also said that the group will announce enrollment for its 2024 summer tour in London, England, and Paris, France, this fall. Students who are in grades 8-11 during the 2022-2023 school year will be eligible to enroll for the summer 2024 tour.
Any person or group interested in sponsoring a partial or full scholarship spot for a student who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford this type of opportunity is welcome to contact Meeks at miranda.meeks@caldwell.kyschools.us.