Travel With Students: A Principal’s Grade-by-Grade Plan

Vicki Davis (00:00): Happy Fab Idea Friday. Today we’re going to talk to a principal who made travel part of her school culture. Let’s learn how she did it.

Announcer (00:10): This is the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis (00:14): Today’s show is sponsored by EF Explore America and the STEM Tours. To show your students how STEM impacts the world up close and in action, go to EFExploreAmerica.com forward slash STEM. And stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more.

Vicki Davis (00:36): Today, we’re talking with Karen Spencer. She’s principal at Parkview Baptist School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Karen is a lifelong educator who’s worked in both public and private schools across elementary and middle school grades. For many years, she’s partnered with EF Tours to take her students on domestic and international trips. We’re going to talk a little bit about the leader’s seat, when a school decides to make travel part of their mission and what they’re doing. Karen, tell us a little bit about your school and why you’ve made travel part of what you do.

Karen Spencer (01:08): So Parkview Baptist is a pre-K through 12 school. We have about 1,100 students, and from varying socioeconomic levels. We are associated with the Baptist. We are just a very mission-minded school.

I feel like there’s so much learning that can happen outside the walls of the classroom. Several years ago, one of my teachers and I decided we wanted to bring more STEM to the school. We reached out to EF at the time, said, you know what? We want to see what we can do to offer some type of a STEM component to travel.

We had just the previous two years before started a Washington, D.C. trip with our eighth graders. And it was such a great success and just exposing our students to so much history, that we were like, let’s bring in now a STEM component. And so the three options with EF were San Francisco, New York, and Boston.

San Francisco seemed a little far for this adventure with seventh graders. Boston just hit us. And there were just so many things. What I love about EF is that over time, this has evolved from just a STEM trip to a STEM, history and fun trip. And we do all things Boston.

It’s so much fun to watch the students grow and gain independence. That, to me, is what’s so important — is letting them see another part of the U.S., meet different types of people, and grow in their independence. Watching them yesterday — we just got back yesterday from our Boston trip — and watching my seventh graders navigate security at a very busy, bustling Boston airport, I was a little nervous.

But they did a fantastic job, even when things got stacked and they had to be delayed, or move in this line or that line. They did an amazing job. And it’s just great watching them start to grow up and gain that.

Vicki Davis (03:06): Highlights. What are some of the things y’all did?

Karen Spencer (03:08): We went to MIT and Harvard. Got a glimpse at Harvard and Ivy League, more liberal arts school, and then MIT, a more STEM school. Show them options, that there are options out there — but it starts now, building that resume and getting your scores up, your transcripts ready, so that you have options when you graduate.

And we went to FIRST Robotics, MassRobotics, and the kids got to experiment with the robotics there. And we, of course, turned it into a competition, and they were all in.

Did you know that Boston has a museum of ice cream? We found that one on this trip and it was so fun and so yummy. We did the Fine Arts Museum, the Museum of Science. We did Lexington and Concord, the Boston Tea Party, the USS Constitution. We did the Freedom Trail. We walked up Beacon Hill. You name it, I think we did it.

Vicki Davis (04:03): Yes, and we’re recording this in April 2026, if you’re saying, hey, I want to go when it looks like that. Is seventh grade the only grade you travel with, or is this something you try to do with a lot of grade levels?

Karen Spencer (04:13): Sixth grade, we do just a one quick overnight marine biology trip, but not with EF — just on our own. Then in seventh grade, we start with EF, and we do our Boston STEM and History trip. Then in eighth grade, Washington, D.C., for our eighth graders. And then in high school, we add in international trips.

And that to me is so much fun, and so amazing to see different parts of the world, different cultures, and let the students in high school experience even more independence and really get to see outside of our borders as well.

We’ve been doing this for many years, and it has just broadened our high school’s view of the world. And our students, they are able to see different cultures, different places, different ways. People live differently, but yet we’re all the same.

It’s just fun watching them gain even more independence by traveling internationally and working their way through customs, and having freedom in these small towns and big cities. We have gone to Austria, Germany, Switzerland. We’ve gone to Greece, France. We’ve done all of Italy. This past summer, we did London, Paris, and Edinburgh, Scotland. And I got to tell you, I’m a fan of Scotland. The whole trip was fabulous, but I really love Scotland.

Vicki Davis (05:33): So when you go internationally, do you have your kids doing hands-on activities also? And like, what do those look like?

Karen Spencer (05:38): We’ve done flamenco dance lessons. We have done cooking classes. We have done some hiking, some bike riding. It’s less classroom-esque and more get out and see the world type activity.

Vicki Davis (05:53): So Karen, when other administrators talk to you and say, okay, why should I go through all the headache of traveling with my students? What do you tell them?

Karen Spencer (06:03): It is amazing. It is so much fun. My favorite thing is getting to know the students on a different level, and getting to see them and having them see me in a different way. We do allow parents to come on our trips too. And I have built some amazing relationships with parents and with the students, because they get to see my heart and get to see me in a different light. And I get to see them in a different light.

I will tell you, I came back this morning and one of our students — I saw this child who tends to sometimes get in trouble in such a different light. And I saw him come to life in a different way. I have such a new love and respect for him that was different than what I had before, because I saw him in this way.

But for other administrators, I will tell you, it’s a lot of work, but it is so worth it. You have to go in with a mentality that there are going to be issues. There’s going to be problems to solve. You have to be flexible. You have to go with the flow. And you want to bring the fun.

We will sing on the bus. We will do model shots in different locations. We will look at TikTok and find what’s the best ice cream place in Paris. You have to meet them where they are and make it fun. And then it becomes fun for everyone. I think I have some parents and students that would travel anywhere, I said, because we’ve had such a great time. But you have to bring that mentality with it, and knowing you’re going to solve some problems along the way.

Vicki Davis (07:35): So you’ve been using EF Tours for a while. Why do you keep coming back to them?

Karen Spencer (07:39): Well, they have proven time and time again that they’re willing to listen. They’re willing to help me. I will tell you, on this last trip, the Museum of Ice Cream was an absolute spur-of-the-moment thing. One of the parents mentioned it in passing at lunch. And I said, wait, what? I looked at my tour guide and I said, we have to make this happen. And he was like, let me see if we can squeeze it in.

He and I start looking at our schedule. How can we squeeze it in? I call EF. I said, how can we make this work? And they are like, we’re on it. They jumped on it with us. It was amazing. Three hours later, we were there.

And that’s one of the reasons I like EF so much is they want to work with me. They want to make it a great experience. And one year, we had a terrible plane situation. But you know what? The next year, they solved it. And they worked with me, make a better situation with our planes. And I trust them. They’ve been in business a long time. They send security guards to help at night, that sort of thing. It just gives me a peace of mind. I just — I trust them.

Vicki Davis (08:43): That’s wonderful. So we’ve been talking with Karen Spencer, principal at Parkview Baptist School from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So Karen, thanks for talking to us about this. And these are just so many great trips. I’m getting the travel bug again to want to travel with some of my students. So thanks for coming on the show.

Karen Spencer (09:00): You’re welcome. I enjoyed it. It was great meeting you, Vicki.

Vicki Davis (09:03): If you’re a STEM teacher like me, you want your students to see how STEM impacts the real world, not just read about it. On an EF Explore America STEM tour, they might code robots with MassRobotics at MIT, explore marine ecosystems in Florida’s coral reefs, or even sit down with a former spy in Washington, D.C., to discover how STEM thinking shows up where you least expect it. Every itinerary is designed by experts to amplify what you teach through hands-on experiences that can’t be replicated in the classroom. Visit EFExploreAmerica.com forward slash STEM and see what an EF Explore American STEM tour can do for your students. Some of the greatest things I’ve ever done with my students have been tours. They make it all easy for you. So again, check out EFExploreAmerica.com forward slash STEM.

Vicki Davis (10:04): Thanks for tuning in to the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast. Watch the video version of this podcast and catch my new radio and TV show, Cool Cat Teacher Talk, on YouTube and a radio or TV station near you. Join my Cool Cat Teacher Classroom Matters newsletter at coolcatteacher.com forward slash newsletter. Leave a review if you found this helpful. See you later, educator.