By Abbey Zhu ’18, Feature Editor

Chaperoning thirteen high school students on your birthday in the sweltering American Southwest heat

sounds less than ideal, but Mrs. Rezvani, a health and physical education teacher at Newark Academy, along with Mr. Stourton in the English department and Ms. Winiarski in the College Office, did just that this past summer.

Every June Term, around ten students and two to three chaperones travel to the American Southwest to go hiking and canoeing for two weeks. The group travels to the Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park. The scenery is an enticing incentive for going on this immersion; but when temperatures during the day reach over one hundred degrees and drop to fifty at night, the participants of the Southwest immersion might just be a little bit insane for voluntarily putting themselves through that struggle.

Mrs. Rezvani has been chaperoning the Southwest immersion for many years. According to her, the immersion has been running for decades and is one of the longest running trips at NA. Originally, the trip was reserved for seniors only, but it is now an open immersion option for all students regardless of what grade they are in.

“It has some of the most interesting and breathtakingly beautiful landscapes in the United States,” Mrs. Rezvani said about the immersion, and now everyone at NA has the opportunity to witness this incredible landscape.

And although hiking through magnificent national parks is a once in a lifetime experience, one of Mrs. Rezvani’s favorite aspects of the Southwest immersion is the memories she makes with the students and her fellow chaperones.

“There are countless memories and inside jokes that result from spending every waking moment of every day together for two weeks,” Mrs. Rezvani explained.

This past year, three memorable moments in particular come to mind for her. The first happened during the canoe portion of the trip.

“During the first night, right after we made dinner, it started storming,” Mrs. Rezvani said. “It was pouring and the winds were super high. We didn’t expect the storm to come so quickly so we all ran into our tents with our dinner plates.”

Not everyone made it back in one piece, however.

“One of the kids tripped as they were running into their tent and spilled their plate of rice and beans everywhere inside the tent! We all felt helpless because we were stuck in our own tents, but we could hear the affected tent trying to clean up the mess. When the storm finally passed, huge waterfalls had formed from the rainwater escaping over the tall walls of the canyon.”

The second memory – one that Mrz. Rezvani finds funny in retrospect – is of all the mosquitoes the trip members had to endure.

“We set up and cleaned up camp in lightning fast speed to try and avoid those pesky bugs,” she explained.

Last but not least, Mrs. Rezvani’s favorite memory was of everyone successfully climbing the Grand Canyon.

“It’s our longest and most intense hike, and everyone on the trip was able to complete it! That was awesome!” Mrs. Rezvani said.

The memories that Mrs. Rezvani is able to make with this small group of students keeps her coming back to chaperone the Southwest immersion every year.

“Planning and chaperoning an immersion trip is a huge commitment,” Mrs. Rez said. “However, getting to bond with a small group of students over a two-week period is simply an amazing experience. You really get to know each other on a deeper level and the memories last for long after the trip returns back to NJ. I love seeing NA students experience so many real world ‘firsts’ – like sleeping in a tent and cooking food – and it is such a special experience.”