By Daniel Edman ’16, Staff Writer

The Immersion requirement at Newark Academy is one aspect of our school’s community that makes us all global students. A good Immersion experience allows a student to go outside of his or her comfort zone and return home with newfound confidence, incredible stories, knowledge of a different culture or wilderness, and many new friends. While both Newark Academy-run Immersion experiences and outside trips (organized by programs such as Overland Summers, Rustic Pathways, and Road Less Traveled) all provide amazing experiences, they are very different and should be looked at specifically from the point of view of the students who went on these trips. Newark Academy breaks down different types of trips into three distinct categories: linguistic Immersion trips, community service Immersion trips, and wilderness Immersion trips. With outside trips students can go anywhere on the globe; even Newark Academy trips range in location from Vermont, Maine and the American Southwest to France, Guatemala, Spain and even China.

Obviously, the biggest difference between going on a Newark Academy Immersion Trip and on a trip with another program is that on the school trip, you are going with people you know and the leaders are teachers you have probably met before. Lauren Katz ‘17 went on the Newark Academy-run American Southwest trip. She said, “Going on the trip with people I knew really made me feel more comfortable. The physical environment of the Southwest is very different than it is here and that threw me out of my comfort zone at first. Having people I knew really helped me get used to the trip.” In addition, the Newark Academy Immersion trips travel to places with great natural landscapes, which really allow Newark Academy students to feel far away from their everyday life. Katz went on to say, “The scenery was incredible there. Just being in nature and being away from all of the pollution and New York City life made the natural environment incredible.” The Newark Academy-run trips also offer a great variety of activities, such as hiking and canoeing. Overall, it seems students really enjoy spending their Immersion trip with their friends and that they gain a lot from the experience.

Students who go on Immersion trips run by other programs also really enjoy their adventures away from home. I went on a hiking trip where we spent two weeks backpacking Olympic National Park and the Cascades and spent one week sea kayaking the San Juan Islands in Washington state. I really enjoyed the fact that I did not know anyone prior to the trip. It allowed me to meet new friends from all over the country, whom I continue to communicate with today. I also loved getting to know the leaders of my trip. Another example of a student who went on a non-Newark Academy trip is Natalie Edman ’18, who lived on a sailboat for three weeks, scuba diving and learning how to sail in the Caribbean. When asked about not going with people that she knew previously, she said, “I thought it was really cool to meet people from all over the country rather than going with a bunch of people from school.” Edman also enjoyed the variety of activities that the trip provided such as hiking, scuba diving, and exploring towns. She said, “The many different activities we got to do made me look forward to each day, and they kept the trip interesting.” Overall, students value both the Newark Academy-run trips and trips with other programs and they gain a lot from going on them. Students are generally enthusiastic about the variety of activities on trips and feel that if you go into the trip wanting to get a lot out of it, you most likely will, whether you are on a Newark Academy Immersion or a trip run by another program.