2015 Belmonte Middle School Washington DC Trip - Introduction

In just about a week, I will be on a bus heading towards our nation's capital.  I will not know most of the kids on that bus with me, but we will be sharing an experience that I hope they don't soon forget.

My name is Richard Lavoie and I am an American History teacher at Saugus High School.  I am very excited to be sharing my thoughts and experiences with you as the Belmonte Middle School makes its way to Washington DC.  I have been teaching in Saugus for about 15 years, but my story begins much earlier than that.  In the late 80s, I was a student at Belmonte.  I walked its halls, ate in its cafeteria, and learned valuable lessons that guided me towards wanting to work with kids.  As I moved on from Belmonte into Saugus High School, I continued learning about myself and realized that I wanted to teach.  It wasn't until my junior year, however, that I figured out what I wanted teach.

That is me on the right as a Freshman at SHS.
 I think I'm at a French Club meeting.

As a high school student, I had the ability to take French.  To be honest, I struggled.  I also didn't really see the value in learning a foreign language.  I only took French because my last name is French.  During my junior year, I was able to participate in a foreign exchange program and it literally changed my life.  First, we were visited by roughly thirty French students.  While I struggled with communicating with them, it was really cool to take them around and show them all that Boston, and Saugus, has to offer.  Afterwards, I traveled to France.  I stayed for three weeks, two outside of Paris, and one on France's border with Germany.  I learned, in those three weeks, how to value history.  I learned how to appreciate foreign cultures and to recognize that our similarities vastly outweigh our differences.  This transformation, within myself, made me more focused and determined.  I also learned that I loved to travel.  It is with this in mind, that I have created this blog.

Our world is much smaller than it was in 1994.  Back then, I worried about IF I'd be able to call my parents and let them know I was okay.  Now, I can stream a Red Sox game, live, across the Atlantic from Boston to Europe on my laptop..and all without wires.  At the high school, I am one of the teachers that leads international trips.  I've traveled about 10 times and I've seen over 20 countries.  As technology has changed, I've adapted the way we see the world to bring a bit of our adventure to the parents, friends, and family members of those who are traveling with me.  In the past three years, I've made well over 50 entries about the experiences we've shared while seeing the world.  This blog has been to the Blarney Stone in Ireland, the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, and to shores of the Normandy beaches in France.  We have even been to California to visit our sister school in Saugus.  Two years ago, I volunteered to chaperon the 8th grade Washington DC trip and it was such a great time.  I was very excited to be asked to attend the trip this year and hope that I am able to provide a little insight into the things we are seeing and how this experience is changing our lives.

Some SHS kids in Ireland in 2013.

Our 2012 trip to Amsterdam and Paris.

A cross country connection
between the two Saugus'. 

When I travel with the high school, I use a slogan coined by Mark Twain.  He believed that "one must travel to learn."  Twain was not a highly educated man when it came to school...but he traveled.  He recognized that our life experiences shape who we are and that we learn from them.  I think, when we read the works of Twain, and others, we travel to the worlds they describe and we learn there as well.  It is my hope that this trip teaches the 8th graders at Belmonte to love travel and to never stop learning.  It is also my hope that this blog allows my readers to sense the excitement and cherish the learning opportunities afforded to our kids.  Please feel free to bookmark this page and to share the address with whomever you'd like.  I appreciate that many of you will read this and I welcome your comments and feedback.  I will typically post links to this blog on Twitter when I've made an update.  My username is @History01906.  If you have a Twitter account, please feel free to follow.

Mural on the wall in my classroom.