“Paddle” into Grade 10 China Trips

As we make our way through September, many students and teachers are exhausted and counting down the days until the October break, but right before the week-long October break, students embark on the annual China trips from September 26 to September 30. During this week, students are able to enjoy various activities with their friends. The Grade 10 China trips is a favorite trip for many students because they travel to Hong Kong and spend a lot of time outdoors.

I interviewed a past Grade 10 China trip advisor to gather his experiences from the trip. When I asked Mr. Duncan, who has been on the Grade 10 trip three times, what he enjoyed most about the trip, he said, “being outside. We were outside a lot. We camped and did other outdoor activities [that] we do not do very often, especially here in China.” Duncan added that he liked waking up early with the cross country team to train while they were away. While the trip was great, Duncan said, “most kids avoided technology for the whole week, but not everybody did, and I would have liked it if everyone did.”

In order to see the trip through a student’s perspective, I interviewed Vedika Savalani, who went on the trip last year. Savalani said, “I enjoyed the trip because most of the activities were on the beach, it was a nice change.” When I asked Savalani if there was anything she thought could have been improved, she replied, “even though we were doing many fun activities, we were doing way too much at once. It was really draining.” A favorite activity for Savalani was the paddle boarding.

Songlin Wu, a current tenth grade student, said that he is “actually quite nervous for the trip.” Wu explained that “the Grade 9 China trip was not that impressive to [him], but [he] thinks and hopes this year will be better.”