Students venture far and wide

by Katie Donovan
Reporter

While a normal school day at NCHS means sitting in a classroom or hanging out in the lounge, a typical school day for sophomore Emily Walshin involves studying in a country halfway across the world, exploring sacred landmarks and learning more about the surrounding culture.

Emily is studying in Israel this semester through a program that allows American students to study abroad during high school.  For Emily, the decision to join the program was easy. “I chose to do it because I wanted to have an experience that I could call my own, while being in a place that holds so much significance and passion in my religion,” she said.  “My religion is a huge part of who I am as a person and it is what drives me and influences me.”

For Emily, a normal school day in Israel goes from 8:15 a.m. to 7:15 p.m., with four hours of free periods.  However, not all of the class time is spent in the school. “We go on day trips at least twice a week so the insanely long day isn’t always spent in school,” she said. “My favorite day trip so far was to the city of David, which is an old city in Jerusalem.”

Other students have decided to spend their semester away from NCHS a little closer to home. Junior Connor Anthony will be in Stowe, Vermont this semester to practice skiing. “I started skiing when I was two years old in my yard and my dad would pull me around on a rope,” he said. “I started ski racing at age eight and have been ever since.”

Connor spends three hours in the morning skiing, followed by lunch and classes that go from 12:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m..  Despite the short school hours, the most is made of it. “With one-on-one teaching you get a lot of work done in a short period of time,” Connor said.

Even though there is one-on-one teaching, Connor still encounters many academic challenges. “The biggest academic challenge here is making time to study for midterms, as well as skiing, while keeping up with my school

work,” he said.  “Sometimes I have to skip a day of training just to keep up with the work.”

Sophomore Paige Lewis also spent the winter in Stowe at the North American Hockey Academy (NAHA) to work on her hockey skills.  Paige began playing hockey when she was six and when she was fourteen NAHA’s coach contacted her and asked her to visit the school. “I really enjoyed my visit and loved the school,” she said. “I knew that I had to either go to this school or a boarding school in order to get recruited to play Division 1 hockey, so I chose NAHA so I can spend part of my school year with my friends at New Canaan High School.”

Despite living far away from NCHS, Paige manages to keep up with the curriculum of her NCHS classes. “I keep up

with my school work by receiving my syllabuses for each class before I leave NCHS,” she said. “Then I give them to my new teachers at NAHA and they follow them, making sure I am right on track when I come home.”

Paige’s biggest worry about spending time away from NCHS is her transition when she returns. “I fear when I return it may be a bit awkward transitioning back into the school,” Paige said. “But even if it may not be a smooth transition,

this experience has been amazing so far, so everything will definitely be worth it.”

Students at NCHS still keep in touch with friends that study abroad. “We talk almost everyday, whether it be through Snapchat or texting, so we keep in touch,” sophomore Ellie Aliapoulios, a friend of Paige, said. “But, it’s harder to keep up with what’s going on in our daily lives when I can’t see her in person.”

The students feel studying abroad is a unique high school experience.  “My biggest personal challenge would probably have to be making the most of every moment, which I’m trying to do because my time in Israel, even though its four months is long, is still limited,” Emily said.  “I’m in such an incredible place that I kind of have to cherish every moment.”

Interesting in studying abroad? Click here to see what Susan Carroll says about how to get away from New Canaan High School