International adventure is calling
History teacher Tanya Lilley and students snap a photo as they visit Napoleon's tomb at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris in August. Students are invited to sign up for more international travel tours with Lilley coming up spring and summer 2024 as well as summer 2025. From top left, counterclockwise: Elsie Nixon, Isabelle Lilley, Tanya Lilley, Lauren Fehling, Alie Maykuth and Emily Fehling
Courtesy photo
Student travelers and chaperones are seen near an iconic windmill in the Dutch countryside in August. Slots are open for students to travel abroad to Japan next spring with other trips coming up in the next couple years.
Tanya Lilley is inviting young globetrotters to come along on worldwide adventures.
Lilley, world cultures and U.S. history teacher who was named the 2023 Idaho Outstanding Teacher of American History by the Idaho State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is gearing up for trips to Japan, England and Greece in the next few years.
The deadline to register for the Japan excursion is coming up at the end of November. The tour is slated for spring break 2024.
"We’re hoping we can get a few more travelers," Lilley said Tuesday. "There are so many kids who are not hearing about this opportunity, and it’s such a shame. They're not going to go out and experience these histories and cultures."
Inland Northwest students seventh through 12th grades are welcome to participate. They can hail from public, private, charter or home schools.
"Any student who wants to get out in the world and learn," Lilley said. "We don’t want to eliminate any kid from having this opportunity."
Lilley traveled abroad when she was a student. International travel is near and dear to her heart, from the friends she has made, to the sacred spaces and historical places she has explored.
"It set me on my path," she said. "Engaging in diverse cultures and navigating new environments fosters a depth of understanding that cannot be duplicated in the classroom."
Since her first training tour in Berlin in 2021, Lilley has led student adventures to Rome, Scotland, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.
With every trip, she has witnessed students grow and transform into confident, cultured young people.
"It’s amazing to see how these kids change," she said. "We had a girl who went to our 'get to know you' meetings, before the tour, who was a wallflower, super quiet, shy. By the end of the tour, she had made friends, she was smiling, she was taking pictures, she literally blossomed."
The all-inclusive trips are facilitated through EF Educational Tours and have ranged from $3,200 to $4,700, depending on where and when the tour takes place. Students have opportunities to apply for scholarships through EF Educational Tours, which awards 100 $1,000 scholarships each year, as well as participate in local fundraisers leading up to departure. Lilley said they have a few options for how to pay, but all they need is $95 to reserve a spot. Right now, students are selling 50-50 raffle tickets and looking into other seasonal fundraising events.
"We’ve even had parents sign up and go with their kiddos," Lilley said. "We’ve had wonderful experiences with the parents.”
Email Lilley at cdakidstravel@gmail.com for details.
