Nowadays, most teenagers only dream of being able to see the world after high school or during their lifetime. France, Finland, and the Galapagos Islands are all places that students do not always have the chance to go to. However, those who have the chance to go normally do so with their families or in the form of an exchange trip.

LHS seniors Samantha Stavropoulos, Kyra Pan, and Joey Pucino were all a part of certain programs that led them to travel to exotic places over the summer.

Samantha Stavropoulos

Senior Samantha Stavropoulos has had an interesting few summers within her high school career. Recently, she had traveled to the Galapagos Islands through a student-sponsored National Geographic Program; the program itself is known as National Geographic Student Expeditions.

The program has allowed students to travel across the world for more than 60 years and offers four different types of expeditions that students can choose from. Each student has the choice of an expedition, field workshop, photo workshop, or a community service program. Stavropoulos participated in the photography workshop, which allowed her to gain more experience in the field of photography. Most of the time there, she had had the chance to take wildlife photography as well as nature photography. “The option I did was photography and the other was Wildlife Conservation. That was where they chose their own project. But for photography is was just ‘choose a theme and take pictures,’” said Stavropoulos.

The student then applies to the program and his/her application is viewed extensively by the National Geographic Admissions Committee. “I had to write a short two paragraph essay about why I wanted to go where I had applied to go and I had to get teacher recommendations from teachers who knew me well,” said Stavropoulos.

Most of the students whom had applied ranged from ages 14 to 18 and were all in high school. However, most of them had not been from the U.S., let alone Illinois. “There were 24 students total and they came from everywhere. We had some people that came from China, England, and Israel. A majority were from the U.S. but they came from everywhere,” said Stavropoulos.

Stavropoulos’ trip to the Galapagos Islands lasted a total of 18 days and was described as “absolutely incredible.” Within the first week of the trip, the student expedition group traveled to the capital city, Quito. There and in the Galapagos Islands, Stavropoulos was able to horseback ride, hike, and participate in some community service. “We hiked up to a Volcano for 10 miles, horseback riding, and we had a lot of downtime,” said Stavropoulos.

Kyra Pan

Senior Kyra Pan had a much different summer and school year than most of the students at LHS. Unlike most students, Pan joined an exchange program through the school that took her to Hameenlinna, Finland, where she lived for seven months with three different families.

The program, through Rotary International, allows students ages 15 to 19 to spend anywhere from a few weeks to a year as an international student. Each student that applies has the chance to choose from a list of countries that Rotary International has a partnership with as well as have the experience that any international student would have.

To apply, Pan had to go through an extensive application process, which included teacher recommendations and interviews from current exchange students, Rotary sponsors, and exchange students that have returned from their trips. Once accepted, the student who applied learns more about the country before his or her visit.

While there, Pan attended the mandatory classes required for her schooling, which were regular classes that count towards her GPA at LHS. While she is the age of a senior, she takes the current classes of a junior due to the lack of credits from the classes in her exchange program. “The way the classes work in Finland, it’s too hard to match up credits to credits,” said Pan.

During her time in Finland, Pan had to get accustomed to the culture as well as the language in Finland. “Culture shock was not how you would expect it to be because Finnish people are very subtle. But culture shock was a big thing. Looking back, I realize that there’s so many things I did wrong there,” said Pan. Most of the Finnish people in Finland are very subtle and if they are very displeased, they will make it known. Getting accustomed to the culture was hard for Pan as well as having to get accustomed to the lifestyle in Finland. “It’s a big thing to uproot yourself and go into another country for ten or seven months of your life but it was interesting and it wasn’t really expected or surprising to have major culture shock,” said Pan.

Joey Pucino

Senior Joey Pucino had quite an adventurous summer this year. About two summers ago, Pucino went on an exchange trip to France for three weeks and this past summer, Pucino returned to France for two weeks. While there, Pucino traveled to some of the most exotic places in France, such as Angers, Marseille, and Paris. Unlike the exchange trip, Pucino traveled most of France by himself with expenses paid for by his parents.

“I was with my friend for most of the trip but I also stayed with my exchange student’s family as well as met up with my neighbor,” he said.

Two summers ago, while on the exchange trip, Pucino was able to speak some of the language as well as get accustomed to the French culture. “Besides being able to speak the language, I was able to learn what it’s like to be a teen in a different culture,” said Pucino. The group of students that had gone on the exchange trip had the chance to travel to Mont St. Michel, which is an abbey in a town situated on top of a small cliff and is on accessible during low tide.

During his time in France this summer, Pucino was able to travel to Angers and Marseille, as well as the major national park located in France, Calanques. “It was all of these cliffs that led down to the most clear water you’ve ever seen. You could see the shadows of the boats on the bottom and I got to go cliff jumping,” said Pucino.