High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology
About the Practice
I’m cheating a bit here by combining two types of trips we’ve been taking: team-building trips to the Princeton-Blairstown Center; and college trips to local colleges. What they have in common is getting the students out of the building, giving them an opportunity to see the larger world, and having the chance to interact with them in a non-high school setting.
Trips are organized throughout the year: one Blairstown trip per semester; at least one college trip per semester. Focus is on 9th graders, but last Blairstown trip also included mentors from upper grades.
We started this practice last year, and have been involving as many teachers as possible to go along with these students.
Target Population/Total Students:
Primarily 9th graders. Blairstown trips have about 50 (goal is 100, but getting permission slips is always a problem); college trips usually about 20.
Challenges:
- Money for buses and coverages.
- Getting students to bring in permission slips.
- Following up with students and tracking what they got out of these trips.
How did school overcome challenges?
Still in progress. Big “TO-DO” is to start tracking students who participated in any of these ESI trips and/or bridge program. Evidence is mostly anecdotal as of now.
How will you continue to sustain this practice?
Blairstown will be a challenge, as it’s expensive. College trips are much more affordable, and for city schools accessible by subway, basically free (except for cost of coverage’s). These can be absorbed within school budget, most likely.