Trips
At Stevens, we learn about the world by exploring it firsthand. In every grade, at every stage, students take trips that add color and context to their classroom experiences and challenge them to grow as experiential learners and confident explorers.
Sometimes a trip is as simple as walking around the block, noticing the weather, the streets and the people, and observing the ways in which they interact. Sometimes it's more ambitious, like our annual 8th grade trip to Mexico City. Students gain a greater depth of knowledge when they make real-world connections, generate questions about their surroundings and interact with new people in their local and global communities.
Every trip is an opportunity to expand your vision, deepen your understanding and learn from the experience of being fully in the world.
Nearby
For our youngest students, trips
start close to home. They participate in neighborhood walking routines, making observations about their surroundings and choosing to explore specific sites in more depth — meeting the mayor’s environmental services team to talk about autumn leaf pick-up or interviewing a gallery director about new sculptures on the city’s waterfront. In 1st grade, classes venture farther afield, examining transportation and businesses in
our communities — a project that includes visits to train stations, ferry terminals, bike-share depots and shops. A year later, they undertake an extensive study of cities — how they change over time and what connects them — that includes trips to the Brooklyn Bridge and the Museum of the City of New York.
Overnight
Starting in 3rd grade, students enjoy overnight trips to outdoor education centers, while day trips are closely tied to the historic periods they encounter in Social Studies. Students visit historic sites — such as Ellis Island and the Apollo Theater — as they study human migration from Europe and the American South. An overnight trip to Fairview Lake features an outdoor ropes course and team-building activities that help students strengthen cross-campus bonds and develop leadership skills. Students return to Fairview Lake in 4th grade, this time as mentors for their younger peers. Being away from home gives students a heightened sense of autonomy, which challenges them to hone their social skills.
Immersive
In Middle School, trips become immersive experiences. As part of the humanities curriculum, students visit cities that played a major role
in early American history, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. As part of the Science curriculum, they conduct research at outdoor education centers. Our partnership with Nobis Project highlights our commitment to service-learning and challenges students to engage with history through the lens of social justice and civic engagement. In 8th grade, students travel to Mexico City, where, in partnership with the Kipling School, they apply the skills and knowledge they’ve gained at Stevens to navigate one of the world’s most complex, exhilarating cities.