For the average student, a summer vacation may mean working, playing sports, or traveling the world with their families. But some Whitman students have other plans. They will travel to countries like Spain and France to more effectively learn the language or visit Uganda to tutor young children in English. Here are a few examples of trips that students will take this summer.

Language Immersion Trips: Spain

Sophomore Gabriela Taginya will travel to Spain for a month where she’ll stay with a Spanish family and take Spanish classes every day at the University of Granada.

Taginya’s interest in traveling to Spain began when a representative from International Studies Abroad spoke to her Spanish class to encourage students to travel during the summer.

“The representative was really helpful,” Taginya said. “It sounded like a good program because you get college credit for the classes you take at the university.”

Along with taking classes every morning, Taginya and her classmates will take trips every day to explore the country. She will take classes in Granada and tour different towns in the south of Spain.

“Spain is such a beautiful country and I’m just excited to have the chance to learn more about it.” Taginya said.

Language Immersion Trips: France

Sophomore Hanna Schweitzer is also traveling overseas to France.

“My mom had a friend whose daughter did the same trip in high school, and she really recommended it as a way to become confident with French.” Schweitzer said.

Like Taginya, Schweitzer will spend part of her day in a local private school learning about the French language, and the rest touring France.

“In the afternoon we take day tours of Nice and local towns in the South of France,” Schweitzer said. “I’m really excited to see parts of France that won’t be crowded with tourists.”

French teacher Genevieve Maloney says summer immersion trips are a great way to experience the language.

“Even if they don’t use it later in life, simply traveling is enough to broaden their horizons,” Maloney said. “It expands their French-speaking boundaries to an unbelievable level.”

Summer Mission Trip: Uganda

While traveling abroad to learn more about a language is certainly helpful for learning a language, other students chose to more directly help others during their vacation. Junior Nikki Heimberg, along with 14 other Whitman students, is going to Buyobo, Uganda for three weeks this summer to tutor the children of a local village and teach them how to use laptops.

“Going to Africa has always been a dream of mine, and so my mom mentioned it to me to see if I would be interested,” Heimberg said. “I’m also interested in going into education, so it’s perfect.”

The group will work with the Women’s Microfinance Initiative, a non-profit organization founded by professional women in the Washington, D.C. area. The group will be led by WMI president Robyn Nietert and special education teacher Laurie Safran.

“Even though it’s a long trip and a lot of work, the trip to Uganda will be beneficial to a village that’s in need of help,” Heimberg said.