By Christoph Neumann
Staff Writer
Over this year’s ski week, Costa teachers Andy Caine, Nicole Wachell and Quincy Howerton took 31 students to Eastern Europe to learn the history of the area.
Over the course of the trip, the group visited the cities of Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Salzburg, and Munich. The students toured three different concentration camps: Auchwitz-Birkenau, Theresienstadt and Mauthausen.
“Seeing the camps made me overcome with emotion,” said senior Rachel Oster. “It’s incredibly overwhelming because of the way the information is delivered and the magnitude of the horrendous acts that happened.”
Because the trip was history based, the teachers wanted the students on the trip to try to explore what happened within the concentration camps and Europe during the Holocaust.
“Seeing these camps was tremendously important for me, partially because I have some personal background in terms of my family,” Wachell said. “The fact that my family had been here overwhelmed me with emotion, but it’s a valuable experience.”
Caine used his knowledge gained from past travels to Eastern Europe to plan this year’s trip. He discussed safety tips, logistical items about the trip, and things to pack with the students before they left.
“I used a different tour company this year than in previous years,” said Caine. “I had to use a lot of my ideas and resources to work with the new tour company, but the tour guide we had ended up being outstanding and was very knowledgeable.”
Caine has been the head chaperone for this trip three times and has tried to make the trip different every time.
“I decided to do a few different things this time besides seeing just the concentration camps,” Caine said. “We went to a salt mine, outside of Salzburg, and the BMW Museum, which I had never been to before. It never gets boring to see the trip through the eyes of the different students who were excited about it.”
After the success of the Eastern Europe trip, it will be available to Costa students in future years.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” sophomore Madi Taylor said. “I met so many wonderful people who I wouldn’t have met at school, and I would recommend this amazing trip to anyone who is interested.”
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