Three big European immersion trips headlined this past summer at St. Louis U. High, including experiences in Poland, Iceland, and Ireland.

Science teachers Teresa Corley and Bill Anderson took a group of 13 SLUH students on a STEM-centered trip to Iceland. The trip was originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, but was instead pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The focus of the trip was STEM education,” said Corley. “So we had a number of activities that were focused on geothermal energy, like production of heat and electricity using geothermal sources.”

The Iceland group stayed in a small hotel in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, which is populated by roughly 80 percent of the island’s inhabitants.

“Once you leave Reykjavik,” said Corley, “there’s little villages, small towns, and not many people. … Iceland is not an urban place.” 

Because Iceland, outside of Reykjavik, is not urban, it lends itself to breath-taking natural scenery. Further, the daily temperature that the SLUH group experienced during their trip was in the 60s and sunny.

“We saw spectacular waterfalls,” said Corley. “I felt like I was in a postcard every day. The entire island was like a postcard. It was amazing.”

Amongst the basalt beaches, towering rock formations, waterfalls, and geysers were numerous geothermal vents dotted around the island.

“The entire countryside had little steam wells,” said Corley. “I didn’t realize their extent in southern Iceland.”

The highlight of the trip for Corley was when the group visited a small-scale farm and baked bread and cooked eggs in these naturally-occurring steam vents.

“It’s amazing,” she said, “It’s the first time I’d ever seen boiling-hot water flowing across the ground in a little stream with caution signs all around.”

Corley commended the students who went on the trip, saying they “are an absolute joy to travel with.” And every Icelander that the group spoke with was friendly and pleasant.

While the Iceland group was busy up north, a group of five students led by history teacher Tim O’Neil worked on an active archaeological excavation in Ireland.

“There were three goals,” said O’Neil of the trip. “To experience and learn archaeological methods and participate in a meaningful way in the discovery and construction of history. Second, to establish a permanent relationship with Colaiste Iognaid for the purpose of setting up an exchange program with them. Third, to experience Irish history, culture and society.”

During the trip, students worked on the excavation of a medieval castle historically owned by the McDermott family, recovering artifacts along with 30 participants from Saint Louis University, Denizen University, the University of Minnesota, and others.

When the group wasn’t working on the excavation site, the group visited Galway and Dublin for a better understanding of Irish history and culture. Working toward their second goal, developing a relationship with the Jesuit high school in the region, the group visited students and teachers at Colaiste Iognaid (St. Ignatius College). The Ireland group spent a full day with the representatives of the school, including a tour of the school, some time at the beach, and a BBQ.

“They were incredibly hospitable,” said O’Neil, “and were eager to help establish an exchange program with SLUH, which we hope to solidify in the coming months.”

O’Neil commended the students on his trip for their work.

“I can’t compliment this group enough,” he said. “They were exceptional workers on the project. The other project supervisors were totally impressed by the amount of quality work our guys did in just a short time.”

O’Neil said that the excavation is the kind of thing that will go down in history books, and will be studied and analyzed by experts in the field in the future.

“Without a doubt,” said O’Neil, “this project will rewrite much of the history of what we know about medieval Ireland and I hope that these students were given experiences that they can tell their grandchildren (about) some day.”

Finally, the last immersion trip taken over the summer was by some of the Russian students eaded over to Poland, where they interacted with Ukrainian refugee teenagers who had been evacuated from their war-torn country. They visited several different cities in Poland, the first of which was Kraków, where they attended a Jesuit school for several days and got to know the Ukrainian students. They would later see historical sites and museums in the city.

“We visited the school the first day and just kind of got to see what life was like at their

school, meet the student body, see the faculty, and take part in some classes,” said Director of Global Education Robert Chura.

After staying in Kraków for two days, they moved on to Gdynia, where they also spent a

day in school. They then went with several Polish students and Ukrainian teenage refugees to several activities outside the city, including a ropes course and a trip to the beach.

“There was a giant rope that swung over a pit of water,” said senior Colin Cavanagh. “A

lot of people got wet that day.”

They also visited several historical sites, including a bunker from World War II and

several other museums.

“We were in this cathedral, and there was a section of the side which had a bunch of

posters that had images of the war, and seeing their obvious disposition towards it (was very impactful),” said Cavanagh. “It was a very powerful moment, making the connection that they have experienced or seen people experiencing the complete atrocities.”

After these activities, they helped load supplies into a truck that would travel to the front

lines of the war to distribute them.

“One of the most powerful things I think that all the kids heard was when we asked (the

refugees) ‘if you can make things change for the better, what are you hoping for?’ And one of the girls just said, ‘Well, I just hope that I can go back and sleep in my bed again, because I know that right now, there are other people sleeping in my bed. There are people who are invading my country. I know that my city has been occupied. And, we know that our home has been taken over by some of the invading forces, and it's not so much that I can't get back, but it's just really tough to know that my home is being occupied by someone who's there uninvited’,” said Chura.