“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” In this quote, Marcel Proust (French novelist) says it all. This past October a group of twelve ACS Egham eleventh and twelfth grade students embarked to open their eyes to a whole new range of discoveries on a CAS trip to Poland. For those of you who may not know, CAS (or creativity, action, and service) is a mandatory criterion implemented for IB students in order to create a more diverse and rounded overall student profile. Each IB student must complete fifty hours of each area across the two years before being awarded the IB diploma.

The trip to Poland, organized and supervised by Mrs. Binkin-Forster, was designed to span all three of these areas while providing a unique and cultural experience for the students. Even before the trip began, students were being engaged in creative activities such as fundraising for a school for the blind and visually impaired in Krakow, Poland (where the students would be participating in English-teaching activities for a portion of the trip). Also prior to the trip, each student prepared a comprehensive lesson plan on a topic of their choice that they would present to the blind and visually impaired students during their visit. The aim was to take a topic and create a non-visual yet still interactive presentation for the students in order to aid in their English-speaking skills. All will agree that it is harder than it sounds (and it sounds pretty hard)!

The first five days of the trip were spent in the heart of Krakow. Activities ranged from visits to the Salt Mines, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and the city center. The students spent much time socializing and bonding with the blind students as well as engaging in their planned lessons for several days out of the week. It was a truly enriching time for all. Through these experiences together, the students learned a great deal about each other. As many mentioned by the end of the trip, “we were so busy learning about each other that we almost forgot they were blind!”

An adventure awaited the group as the “service” half the trip came to a close. Goodbyes were said to new found friends and emails were exchanged but more activities awaited. After a five-hour drive to the Lower Silesia Mountains, the students were anxious for some fresh air and that is exactly what they received. Trekking in the snow-capped hilltops, horseback riding, and a visit to a local agrotourist farm were just some of the outdoor activities that the students participated in during the stay in the mountains. It is possible that few of the students could have truly imagined themselves trekking up a mountain in freezing conditions or even milking a goat! Snowballs were thrown and paintballs were fired but satisfactory smiles on the faces of the group proved that it was surely an experience that will not soon be forgotten.

Thank you to Mrs. Binkin-Forster for organizing/ chaperoning the trip as well as Mr. Bill Roach for chaperoning/ coordinating.