With the Covid-19 pandemic in the past, eight students from the Westminster Academy for International Studies (WAIS) were finally able to live up to the “international” part of their education. They traveled to Panama over spring break.

Principal Russ Warwick emphasized, “this was not a vacation,” as he and students and staff briefed the Board of Education about the trip. Students were heavily involved in the planning and fundraising for the trip, which they started thinking about when in sixth grade.

For many of the students, it was their first time ever on a plane and the first time ever traveling outside of the country.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Panama without seeing the world-famous Panama Canal, but the highlight may have been a special visit focused on cultural emersion. The students spent hours with members of the Embera Tribe of Panama. The Embera people had not been exposed to outside people until the 1960s and still don’t have running water or electricity.

Next up for the class of 2023: a trip to Belize.