8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 13, 2016
German students
immersed in culture on
recent trip
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
t the end of March, a se-
lect few students from
Cottage Grove High School
embarked on a very rare op-
portunity to explore the culture
and history of central Europe.
German teacher Angela Schafer
took 16 adventurous students on
a 10-day trip to Austria, Germa-
ny and Switzerland. The group
spent about three days in each
country, its members immers-
ing themselves in the culture as
much as possible.
“It was nice that we saw vari-
ous places, but we weren’t mov-
ing that much and it wasn’t very
overwhelming,” Schafer said
of the travel arrangements. Ac-
cording to her, the class was
very mature and easy to handle.
Schafer took the students
on the “Sound of Music tour”
through Worldstrides, a com-
pany that Schafer says focuses
heavily on education.
“The type of things you do
are hands on and real immersion
into the culture as much as pos-
sible,” she said.
The German club made the
trip successful by hosting fund-
raisers nearly a year in advance.
The cost for each student to
travel was nearly $3,700, and
Worldstrides offered scholar-
ships to many students.
The group began its trip by
fl ying into Vienna, Austria. They
then moved to Salzburg, another
Austrian city known for its salt
mines. After Austria they stayed
in Munich, the culture capi-
tal of Bavaria in Germany, and
then wrapped the trip up with a
visit to Lucerne in Switzerland.
Each city’s main language was
German, giving the German stu-
dents plenty of opportunity to
practice conversation with na-
tive speakers.
Schafer says that according to
the feedback she received from
students, Vienna was overall the
most enjoyed city of the trip.
One of the main reasons for that
was a trip to the Prater, a public
amusement park. But this wasn’t
any regular trip to Six Flags.
“It really combined older Vi-
enna and older Europe with a
lot of modern aspects,” Scha-
fer noted. The modernity came
from the rides (which were clev-
erly on a pay-per-ride basis) and
the historical aspects came from
architecture. The amusement
park was on the heel side of a
tour of the Schonbrunn Palace,
a former imperial residence and
now famous tourist attraction.
“It was one of the kids’ favor-
ite palaces and the weather was
great; you can’t ask for more,”
Schafer noted.
When the group went on to
Bavaria (a place where Schafer
says is always her favorite to
visit), students immersed them-
selves more by taking a Bavar-
ian folk dancing class.
“We met a local Bavarian folk
dancing group and they took us
to their club house and taught us
folk dancing,” Schafer said. This
was a major goal in immersing
the students in the local cul-
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ture. “You’re not just being led
around by a tour guide, you’re
creating art, writing poems and
speaking the language.”
The students were given tours
of various Gothic Cathedrals
and churches with an abun-
dance of rich European history.
They even were given a tour of
Neuschwanstein Castle, which
heavily infl uenced the design of
the Disney Castle.
In Lucerne, the student-travel-
ers toured Lake Lucerne, which
has a more complicated name
in German that means the Four
Forest City Lake, as four differ-
ent cities surround the lake. The
students went on a lake cruise
and walked through the town
of Lucerne, which holds some
of the oldest pedestrian bridges
still in use. Lastly, the group did
a very fi tting tour of the Lion
Monument. The monument is a
carving of a Lion in a cliff that
commemorates Swiss merce-
naries in the 18th century that
suffered huge losses during the
French Revolution.
Outside of the history, the
students enjoyed authentic Ger-
man, Austrian and Swiss food,
along with very comfortable ac-
commodations. Schafer noted
the pleasant surprise the stu-
dents found in the quality of the
food everywhere they ate.
“Nothing was catered to
American tourists; it was all
very traditional,” she added.
The trip marked the second
journey to Europe that Schafer
has hosted at Cottage Grove
High School. Last year, she
took 12 on a trip to Munich.
This year, she expanded to 16
kids with the help of Geriann
Walker, a chemistry teacher and
valued colleague of Ms. Scha-
fer. “She really understands
how to facilitate and coordinate
all these young people and en-
sure that they have a good time,”
she said of Walker.
All in all, the local Cottage
Grove students approached the
trip in a respectful, mature and
academic manner. The experi-
ence enlightened students like
Carly Sand, who enjoyed the
various cathedrals. Others like
Lucas Swearengin enjoyed vis-
iting the various castles on the
trip, and Celeste Pelham praised
the dancing they learned.
COMMUNITY BRIEFS
SLSD plans
kindergarten
round-up
South Lane School District
informs parents with children
whose fi fth birthday occurs on
or before Sept. 1, 2016 that those
children are eligible to enroll for
kindergarten next fall, and par-
ents can pre-register their kinder
student anytime before then.
Kindergarten classroom vis-
its will occur this year starting
April 20 through May 11 at the
various elementary schools.
Dates and times are listed be-
low. Those seeking additional
information are asked to contact
their area school directly.
Latham School — 942-0147
April 20 from 2:30-4 p.m.
Bohemia — 942-3313
April 21 from 3-4:30 p.m.
Dorena — 946-1506
April 21 from 3-4 p.m.
Harrison — 942-3389
May 11 from 2:30-4 p.m.
London — 942-0183
May 11 from 4-5:30 p.m.
BMD Planning
Room. Input is needed to guide
the planning for organizing this
year’s festival taking place
July 14-17. More members are
needed for the Festival Board
of Directors and for the BMD
Heritage Association. Those in-
terested in signing up can call
541-942-5064.
Fun Fly
The South Lane RC Model-
ers and the YAC are hosting a
fun fl y for all ages (under 12
with a parent or guardian) on
on Friday, April 15 from 4-6
p.m. Those interested can bring
their small electric aircraft to fl y
in the Armory. For more infor-
mation contact Marvin Goins at
541-942-0530.
Sears Cemetery
Assn. to meet
The annual meeting of the
Sears Cemetery Association
will be held Tuesday, April 19 at
6:30 p.m. at Smith-Lund-Mills
Funeral Chapel. Public pres-
ence is welcome. Those who
didn’t get a reminder card may
send their dues to Secretary/
Treasurer Millie Jones at 33138
Gibson Lane, Creswell, OR
97426 or call 541-895-4893.
The Bohemia Mining Days
board will be meeting on Thurs-
day, April 14 at 7 p.m. in the
Community Sharing Conference
541.942.7934
The students sit beneath the Lion Monument in Lu-
cerne. The monument was constructed in memory of
Swiss mercenaries in the late 18th Century.
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Rocks and
Minerals
A rock and mineral show will
be held at the Goshen Grange on
Saturday, April 16 from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. There will be food con-
cessions, spinning wheel dem-
onstrations, silent auction, local
sellers with craft items, jewelry
and more. Each child gets a rock
and there is free parking. Ad-
mission is 50 cents and children
under 12 are free. The grange is
located off the Hwy 58 exit, take
fi rst right on Matthews Road,
then the second right on Dillard
Access Road, and the Grange is
on right. The event is presented
by Thunderegg Rock Club.
South Lane Fire Division
Chief Joe Raade will discuss
the history of FireMed and how
the staff and community benefi t
from the program. Cheryl Shan-
non will provide an overview of
Life Flight and the process that
brought a team to the area. The
meeting is open to the public.
In person: 116 N. Sixth Street, Cottage Grove
Email: cgnews@cgsentinel.com
Office phone: 942-3325
Cottage Theatre presents
Irving Berlin's
Dam historical
program
The Cottage Grove Histori-
cal Society will be presenting
a program on the history of the
Cottage Grove Dam at the Cot-
tage Grove Community Center
on Saturday, April 16 at 10 a.m.
This program is free and re-
freshments will be provided.
912 Project
The next meeting of the Cot-
tage Grove 912 Project will be
Monday, April 18 at 6:30 p.m.
at Stacy’s Covered Bridge Res-
taurant.
Music & Lyrics
by Irving Berlin,
Original Book by
Herbert & Dorothy Fields,
As revised by Peter Stone
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