Thirteen days after saying bon voyage to family and friends, 33 area high school students have returned from a tour of central Europe. Organized by Bridgeport High School French teacher Deanna Garrett and facilitated through EF Educational Tours, the trip included two- to three-day visits in Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Munich, Germany; Lucerne, Switzerland and Paris, France with brief stops in Innsbruck, Austria; Dresden, Germany and Liechtenstein. 

Students - many of whom are French students of Bridgeport, Liberty and South Harrison high schools - took in several tours, including those of the above-named cities and specific attractions including Dachau Concentration Camp (just northwest of Munich), the Palace of Versailles, the Catacombs of Paris, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, Munich’s BMW Museum, the Berlin Wall sight, Topography of Terror and sight of the former Gestapo headquarters. 

Additional activities included a boat cruise on Lucerne’s River Reuss which provided transportation to the base of Mount Pilatus. Thereafter, the group traveled via funicular railway to the summit where they took in a most picturesque view of the snowcapped Swiss Alps. Many took an extra scenic ride down the mountain by toboggan before loading a cable car for the descent. 

Various Paris landmarks were visited including Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre-Coeur, the Bastille, the Pont des Arts (Lock) Bridge, the Trocadero Fountains, Pompidou and, of course the Eiffel Tower. 

The European tour is organized every two years. The purpose, Garrett said, is to enable students to be emerged in various cultures, test their French speaking skills, receive an up-close-and-personal view of locations studied in school and gain insight and experience with regard to everything from currency transfer to maneuvering the metro system. It’s also about gaining independence and getting out of one’s comfort zone. Students who were polled agreed that all of those points were accomplished during the 2015 tour. 

Students making the trip were Amna Hague, Andy Hess, Leigh Hornor, Malia Howard, Molly Layne, Danielle Lodge, Levi McClain, Livy McFee, Brittany McGee, Trey Reed, Sarah Reppert, Paige Rice, Quinn Stalnaker, Taylor Abraham, Jada Adlington, Stephanie Alvaro, Hope Andrews, Savannah Blythe, Abbey Cottrill, Ashley Cottrill, Noah Gray, Emily Griffith, Ryley Sturm, Shae Tomasik, Emily Bowman, Emily Trickett of Bridgeport High School and Drea Aaron and Emily Bowman of South Harrison High School, Hunter Baker, Cheyenne Bolden, Bethany Stern, Bethany Winters and Carleigh Zink of Liberty High School. Sheridan Lamb resides in Texas, but is a former BHS student. 

Chaperones were Deanna Garrett and Jessica Ashcraft, educators of BHS and Liberty High School respectively, Amy Miller Hinkle, Kayla Fenton and Julie Perine. 

Editor's Note: Top/cover photo features the students representing West Virginia at the Eiffel Tower. See photos from Lucerne, Switzerland - including the trek up Mount Pilatus - in the gallery below. Photos courtesy of students and chaperones. More pictures will be forthcoming.