Dominican Republic Trip

English teacher Mr. Tuccinardi is running a trip for “Empowering Children in the Dominican Republic” in February 2024. This trip is powered through EF Educational Tours. Their goal is to design tours to help educators teach and students learn about other places and new perspectives. Their global mission is “opening the world through education”. This trip specifically will focus on visiting local communities and learning about cultures and issues impacting the local children. Students that go on the trip will be working with local nonprofits and community members to look for sustainable solutions for education, social, and economic challenges. Students will participate in about 20 hours of community service over the course of 8 days. The service project themes will revolve around access to education, youth development, and generational poverty.

Mr. Tuccinardi explains that he was inspired to put on a trip because during his time as a student at Melrose High School, he went on his own international trip to Greece with Mr. Santos. He said that it was an amazing experience, so he wanted students today to have that opportunity as well. Mr. Tuccinardi said that “no matter where you travel, you get perspectives you didn’t have before” and that is what he hopes to achieve with this trip. Especially since Melrose isn’t the most diverse town, it gives students a chance to see and experience something very different to what they are used to at home. This is the first trip he is putting on, but he would like to host more in the future so students can gain more new perspectives and experiences. 

Another interesting aspect of this trip for students taking Spanish is the ability to be immersed in the language. Mr. Tuccinardi explains that he learned some Italian over the summer before visiting Italy, and that it was a great experience to be able to be surrounded by others speaking the language. This is another opportunity for students taking Spanish to be surrounded by the language they are learning in school if they were unable to participate in the foreign exchange or if they want another opportunity to experience that.

The company hosting this trip focuses on student trips mainly focused around service. For this particular trip it is focused around education and will include going to classes and teaching kids, so Mr. Tuccinardi mentions that it will be especially beneficial to Melrose students that are thinking about pursuing a career in teaching. The trip will be split between involvement with cultural experiences and despite being focused around education, if something comes up and the community needs something else more, attendees will focus on that, as their main goal is to help the community. The trip entails about six days in the same area spent working with the community and participating in cultural experiences. Then, for the last part of the trip, the students and teachers will go to a different part of the Dominican Republic where they could be hanging out at the beach, hiking mountains, going on a boat, and more.

Overall, this trip will definitely have a meaningful impact on the community students are visiting and will be very beneficial and fun for those participating. Spots are still open for students, so reach out to Mr. Tuccinardi if you have any questions or are interested in traveling to the Dominican Republic next year!