Patrick Henry High students paint a whirlwind tour of Europe 

It isn’t every high school student’s experience to jet off to Europe and see a wide array of art and more.

But some Patrick Henry High students got to do just that.

Recently, retiring AP art history teacher Karen Thomas went to Europe with 22 students and three teachers. The group experienced England, France, Switzerland, and Italy.

“When I started teaching AP art history, I realized that to teach the class as meant to be, I had to allow my students to experience the art, architecture, and sculpture I was teaching firsthand,” Thomas said. “I started researching tours and found one that aligned with the largest portion of my curriculum.”

According to Thomas, the tour group started in London and went to the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and The British Museum. They then left the city for the day to go to Stonehenge.

The group then made its way to Paris, where they visited The Louvre, The Musée d’Orsay, and Versailles.

Once done in France, the Patrick Henry High contingent then trekked to Switzerland. No art this time, as they instead went to Mount Pilatus and hiked the Alps, enjoying the constant ringing of the cow bells.

Their last leg was in Italy. They visited the Uffizi, the Duomo, the Assisi Chapel, the Forum, the Colosseum, the Museo Mossimo, and the Vatican.

“Two nonstop weeks that are life-changing for all of us,” Thomas remarked. “This trip opens the world up for the travelers and gives them a chance to learn how to interact and adapt to their new surroundings and see their favorite works of art along the way.”

Students get the most out of the trip 

Lilly Hanna, one of the students on the trip, said her experience was amazing.

“I took Mrs Thomas’ art history class in my junior year of high school. She would always talk about how she took a group of about 20 students on a trip every year to London, Paris, Switzerland, and Italy. It was all art history-based. I was immediately hooked.

“Unfortunately, I had prior plans and couldn’t make it on the trip that year, but thankfully when I came back from my senior year, I asked Mrs. Thomas if I could attend with her class and she said yes.”

Hanna said that she had never been out of the country before. Seeing all the different cultures and art opened her eyes to the world around her. 

“I realized the world is much bigger than my life here in San Diego and it helped me learn how much more of the world I wanted to experience,” Hanna said.

Asked what she might tell other Patrick Henry High students considering such a trip down the road, Hanna noted, “I would tell them that this trip is a once in a lifetime experience. You could go with your family but being able to go with your fellow art history classmates and teachers really brought the experience together. I was able to talk to my friends and classmates about the art pieces we learned about in class and getting to share the excitement of what we were seeing was irreplaceable.

“I would 100% recommend this trip to every underclassman and I think it’s an experience every student should have.”

Navigating and taking steps without a parental figure

Another student who was part of this once-in-a-lifetime experience was Riley DeGroote.

DeGroote, who will be a senior this fall, said she learned how to start navigating and taking her first steps into the world without a parental figure. 

“I also learned how much the art history course impacted all of us students that were on the trip,” DeGroote said. “Everyone was so excited to see the pieces we learned about in class and we all had conversations about the history behind pieces we recognized.”

DeGroote said she loved that the students were able to choose whether or not they wanted to do the extra activities provided on the trip and the overall freedom they were given to go see the art they wanted.

“Of course I enjoyed being around the students that were on the trip,” DeGroote remarked. “Even though not all of us knew each other everyone was still so kind and we all had at least one thing in common, that being our passion for art history.”

As for advice DeGroote would give future PHHS students that might have an opportunity to go on this type of trip, she said to absolutely do it. 

“I was skeptical at first and anxious even just about traveling without my parental figures but I would hate for that to be the reason I missed out on such a great opportunity,” DeGroote said.

“Not only do you get to see what you’ve learned in class but you learn how to start taking your first steps in the world by yourself (which I think is so important to do as high school students).

“You also create friendships with your classmates on the trip, which is definitely a bonus. Personally, I became friends with classmates I never talked to before and I had a great time with them. The friendships I already had became ever stronger and closer all because of this trip. I’ve never been on a trip like this one.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it will impact me forever. I’m so grateful we were able to make it happen. It was worth every penny my family and I put towards it.”

Learning about art proved surreal

For Claire Sanderson, the senior-to-be said seeing the art students had been learning about was surreal.

“I was able to connect with it so much more than I was in the classroom,” Sanderson said. “I was even brought to tears by some of the pieces and it was an amazing thing to experience with Mrs. Thomas, who has easily become one of my biggest inspirations.

” I’ve always known that I love travelling and seeing new places, and being given the opportunity to experience all these countries on more than just a surface level basis has made me want to see and learn more about the world in the future.”

Asked if future students should take advantage of such an opportunity, Sanderson noted, “I’d say my biggest piece of advice is to go in with an open mind. There are inevitably going to be a lot of long and hard days in a bunch of new and unfamiliar places, and being adaptable to these situations is key to making the trip worth it.

“On our last day in Rome, everyone was tired, sweaty, and angry, but I honestly would not have wanted to be anywhere else than a humid restaurant eating pizza with my friends. Keeping an open mind makes all the difference.”