In July, Middle School English teacher Jessica Hecht and students and teachers from all over the region traveled to Poland through the Classrooms Without Borders program. This is her story.
The adventure started even before we got there. I, along with other teachers and students from the area, had been preparing for our trip to Poland for months. We attended meetings, watched movies, and even met with an historian to make sure we understood what we were about to see. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to get there, but wait we did. We waited four hours in the Pittsburgh airport only to have a 30-hour layover in Chicago because of a terrible storm. This was truly a bonding experience where students and teachers became equals in exhaustion and frustration. This bond became invaluable as we leaned on one another for support while touring Poland’s ghettos and concentration camps…