Page 15 - FIS World

For many FIS Grade 9 students, the trip to Manderscheid was a big step outside their comfort zones. Feraille Cowan, Grade 9 Year Head, led her students on a three-day, two-night camping and hiking adventure. The full ve-day trip included: hiking, raft building, archery, ropes course and bridge building. “The week’s activities fostered teamwork, con dence, positive relationships, and good friendships,” Ms. Cowan said.
Having already completed the challenges in Manderscheid the year before, Grade 10 students visited the very civilized city of Berlin to learn about history, food and culture – and most importantly, responsibility. “We gave them a chance to take ownership of the trip and make choices over the food they ate, activities they participated in and even the transport route they took around Berlin,” said Grade 10 Year Head Bryne Stothard. For a more somber lesson, all Grade 10 students visited the Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg Concentration camp near Berlin to listen to a classmate tell stories from his grandfather who was a prisoner in the camp.
Class trips aren’t just limited to the Oberursel Campus. Grade 6-8 students at FISW participate in adventures of their own, with Grade 6 students visiting the Magic Kingdom – literally – at Disneyland Paris, where they learn about the concepts of physics (motion/energy) on roller
FISW students in Barcelona in 2016
coasters and Language Arts from FISW teacher Andrea Mosteller, who was formerly a Disney Youth Education Facilitator. Sleeping Beauty’s castle and surroundings provide an unparalleled world in which to learn and test boundaries.
FISW’s Grade 7 students travel in the opposite direction to visit Salzburg, Austria, where they study the Middle Ages through guided tours, including visiting the region’s salt mines and zip-lining across the salt canyons. And FISW’s Grade 8 travels 1,324 kilometers to the beautiful coastal city of Barcelona, Spain, to see famous monuments and eat fresh seafood while receiving real life opportunities to practice their Spanish – and Flamenco dance.
As FISW’s Grade 6-8 Coordinator Scott Hardgrove says: “All of our trips provide unique and meaningful learning experiences where our students are encouraged to think ‘outside the box.’ Students learn in environments that challenge their independence, group skills, inhibitions and tolerance, and all of these experiences encourage them to take responsibility and use their own initiative in the future.”
Emmett Kelly FIS Parent
Tasting grapes in Rothenburg ob der Tauber
High above Sass Grund (above)
Exploring the Reichstag building in Berlin (below)
October 2017 FIS World 13