SR students experience trip of a lifetime 10 days – 2 countries – 8 cities
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Standing on the shores of Normandy Beach 80 years after the blood bath that took so many lives of troops around the world, students and their history teacher, Zach Bosell, experienced something that simply cannot be replicated. Early this month the infamous dates of June 6 and June 7 brought their history lessons to life as they stood among some of the very heroes who survived that day.
Bosell, US and World History teacher for South Ripley Schools, agreed it was a “once in a lifetime” experience for himself along with the 35 others he took on the trip through the D-Day 80 Friends in the Netherland EF Tours.
On June 1, they arrived in Amsterdam. Many of the students had never flown on an airplane even within the continental United States, let alone a foreign country. On the 10-day tour, they were able to experience transportation by bus, plane, fast “really fast” train and walking around cities they never dreamed of seeing in person.
They visited the home of Holocaust survivor Anne Frank, where students were impacted from the sheer small size of the place. They tried to comprehend what it would be like to be perfectly silent for an eight-hour stretch and knew this had been a time like no other.
They visited Church of Our Lady where they sang in Latin and had some free time in the Amsterdam Center.
They traveled by train to Paris where their palets would be tempted at the Creperie Contemporaine 142, and Chez Gladines Les Halles. They took a bus tour of Paris.
In Normandy, they were shown a walking tour of the beach with the highlight of the whole trip being the 80th anniversary ceremony at the Colleville Cemetery where over 9,000 veterans are buried as a constant reminder that freedom isn’t free. Someone, somewhere at some time paid the price for it.
Bosell said at various times throughout the trip he found himself in tears, and also noticed some of the students as their hearts were touched by history. He explained many of the things they did as “powerful experiences,” saying he is Jewish and the whole experience brought a lot of feelings.
The students from Ripley County met students from different places and could feel they were part of something much bigger than themselves.
While Bosell says he loves to travel and has been abroad several times, he had never been the leader of a group such as this. He said it was meaningful for him and he’s already got a Holocaust trip planned for 2025. He doesn’t want history to be a “dying art” and says the importance of it is paramount for society to succeed.
The students had some fun while there, but also knew the serious tone of the trip. Bosell says they are a fun group and has 60 students in the Social Studies Club at South Ripley.
He talked about how the trip connected the students with the history he’s been teaching, showing them the reality of the lesson.
Editor’s Note: We are working on having another story from the perspective of a student on the trip. Watch for upcoming issues of the Osgood Journal and The Versailles Republican as we continue to cover the local news.
