Trip to Greece inspires Coeur d'Alene students

COEUR d’ALENE — "Meno sto Coeur d’Alene" is Greek for “I live in Coeur d’Alene.”

A group of 31 students from Coeur d’Alene School District recently got to test new words in Greek and expand their cultural horizons with a whirlwind trip through the nation. 

“It was short and fast, but they experienced a lot,” Lakes Middle School teacher Tanya Lilley said. 

Students and their chaperones went to Athens, Olympia, Nafplio, the temple of Poseidon, Mycenae, the Corinth canal, Epidavros, Hydra, Poros and Delphi.  

Lilley said it’s thrilling as a teacher to see her students grow not just in their knowledge and understanding of the world around them, but as people as well.  

“I try to give them hands-on, real-world experience of what they learn about in textbooks,” Lilley said. 

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was visiting the site of the original Olympics at Olympia. 

“I got to experience my students participating in a foot race in the steps where the ancients ran,” Lilley said.  

Scarlet Wood was one of those students and won her first race. 

“We got to go to the first-ever Olympic stadium and we got to run on the track. I decided to run it three times and kind of got sick afterwards,” she said. 

Scarlet said she was excited to learn words ahead of the trip on the language-learning app Duolingo and is up to a Greek vocabulary of 137.  

The Temple of Apollo and Temple of Poseidon were her favorite landmarks the group visited.  

"It was gorgeous,” she said.    

Students also got to tap into the folk roots of the country, taking in a night of dancing and traditional music, complete with plate smashing. 

It was Ciara Landon’s first trip to another country through the cultural program, and she said she learned a lot from speaking to shopkeepers and servers as well as the tour guides. 

When her mother asked her if she wanted to go to Greece, the answer was an immediate yes.  

Her favorite words to use quickly became “good morning” and “thank you,” “kalimera” and “efcharistó.”  

She was enchanted to learn about how olive oil is made and look at intricately crafted pieces of pottery that were older than she could imagine. 

The sight she most loved was found in Athens. 

“You can see the Parthenon from really random places,” Ciara said. 

Scarlet’s mother, Kate Kuhlman-Wood, accompanied the students on their travels throughout Greece. 

Kuhlman-Wood noted that there were different tour groups with students from France and Italy that the Idaho students got to interact with. Everyone coming together at various intervals made for unique perspectives. 

Kuhlman-Wood said she was also excited for the students to take advantage of Lilley’s anthropology background. 

“It makes her such an asset to the children,” Kuhlman-Wood said. “Watching the kids feel closer to history was really amazing. It really was a coming-of-age trip. They adapted so quickly.” 

With each trip Lilley has been a part of, the excitement of students to embrace the culture and expand their personal horizons has been fulfilling for her as an educator.  

“They learned about ancient history in sixth grade, and now they’re getting to see it and touch it,” Lilley said. “I wanted to have them learn outside of the four walls of the classroom.”  

    Coeur d’Alene School District students learn about the ancient acoustics at Epidavros during a recent 10-day trip to Greece.
  

    Coeur d'Alene students and chaperones pose by the gate of stone-carved lions guarding the gate of Mycenae in Greece.
  

    Students dressed in Greek folk attire during a special trip to learn more about Greek culture and history through the Coeur d'Alene School District.