Enjoying the baguettes in France, wild rice in China, and black beans in Peru, Groton students are given the opportunity to explore the world through the global education program. Each year students are able to travel to China, France, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Peru, Tanzania, and Uganda. Groton aims to educate students to become the next generation of global leaders, caring, ethical, and knowledgeable citizens of the world, through service learning, cultural exchanges, and travel.

Looking towards the summer, Groton students plan to visit Monduli, Tanzania, Cabrete Dominican Republic, Europe, and South Africa.

One of the exciting new additions to the list of destinations, Mr. Lyons plans to take roughly 13 students on a European trip tracing the Western Front of World War Two that begins in London, moved across the English Channel to Normandy and ultimately ended in Adolph Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” in the Bavarian Alps after traveling through Bastogne, Belgium and Cologne, Berlin, Nuremburg and Munich, Germany. Previously done so by his brothers David and Joe Lyons History teachers at St. Mark’s and Deerfield, respectively.

Another new addition to the list is The Imagine Scholar-Groton Program (ISG) is a collaboration between a group of Groton students and a group of students in the Imagine Scholars in the Mpumalanga Province, in Nkomazi region in South Africa. Many of the current fourth form studewnts a part of the ISG group have been skyping and contacting students in the Mpumlanga Province since second form through email, YouTube, and Skype. Groton students participating in ISG have engaged in ongoing learning opportunities — including common texts, writing assignments, and other art forms — to share their talents, ideas, and cultures over the past two years. This trip leads to the next phase of the collaboration which is to communicate face to face.

In cycling alteration of the major music groups on the Circle, each year one group travels on a tour either to a new country or in America. This year, the Global Education Opportunity in music begins on the Groton campus right after exams with orchestra rehearsals and information sessions about Imperial Europe, the great orchestral and musical traditions of Central Europe, and Central Europe.

Afterwards, students fly over to Budapest and cruise the Danube River. Next students will travel to Vienna, home of Mozart, Beethoven, Gustav Klimt and Sigmund Freud, and visit the Vienna State Opera House, and they will perform in beautiful Schonbrunn Palace. On the way to Prague, the group will stop in the Moravian capitol of Brno. Then, as a grand finale the orchestra will experience Bohemian folk music and dancing at our Farewell Dinner at a local Prague restaurant before returning back home for the summer.

There are countless opportunities at Groton. It’s only a matter of pushing yourself further to learn about the greater world beyond our small communities.