Global Mindset & Travel
Exploring major global issues requires a broader, interdisciplinary perspective. Ensuring our students have a global mindset is a priority for us; it’s crucial for developing deeper learning and promotes cultural awareness and competencies that will serve our students well beyond their educational careers.
Our teachers are committed to partnering with outside experts and organizations to create these learning experiences for Beaver students. From course-connected (i.e., the classes they are taking) to co-curricular (i.e., clubs or groups they are members of), our students have many options and opportunities to travel to a wide range of locations.
Course-connected travel
By integrating travel into our academic courses, we are able to connect the content to an experience in real time. We are continuously looking for opportunities to open our classrooms to immersive experiences so that we can delve deeper and explore even further with our students.
Co-curricular travel
Beyond the classroom, our students also have the opportunity to travel with the clubs or groups they are members of—from Model UN to RoboSub—as well as conferences and programming opportunities through the Hiatt Center.
Our transdisciplinary approach fosters a deep dive in the classroom, partnerships with institutions and experts, and local and global travel opportunities to allow our students to transfer their knowledge into hands-on, authentic experiences. They don’t just explore the world, they can read it, too.
Kader Adjout, Director of Teaching, Learning, and Innovation
Course-connected travel: where we’re going
In addition to our decade-long, bi-annual signature programs in both Havana, Cuba and China, we are thrilled to be expanding our course-connected travel. During the 24-25 school year, Beaver will go to Cuba and Spain; in 25-26, students will travel to Quebec and China. Read more about the courses and trips below.
Course: Cuban Jazz Ensemble (BVR-X)
Trip: Havana, Cuba
As part of the Cuban Jazz Ensemble BVR-X course, students will travel to Havana, Cuba in March 2025, where they will immerse themselves in another culture. They will work with students and teachers at Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, Cuba to hone their music skills while making cross-cultural and historical connections. Beaver has been participating in the bi-annual exchange since 2015.
*Please note: This class is by audition only.
MORE ABOUT THE COURSE
Course: Advanced Spanish: Intercultural Dynamics
Trip: Sevilla, Spain
As part of the Advanced Spanish course, students will travel to Sevilla, Spain in March 2025, where they will deepen their knowledge of the cultural products investigated in class through guided tours and planned activities (like a ceramics and Flamenco workshop). Before the trip, students will work to develop a comprehensive travel guide, and once in Spain, they will finalize the guide by incorporating new information from their in-person tours and visits and creating Yelp-style reviews for restaurants and shops they visit.
MORE ABOUT THE COURSE
Course: Advanced French
Trip: Quebec, Canada
As part of the Advanced French course, students will travel to Quebec, Canada in March 2026 where they will explore Quebec’s cultural sites with a particular emphasis on Indigenous cultures. They will also have opportunities to use their French in authentic situations with native speakers. Quebec provides an opportunity to experience French in our own backyard, while exposing students to a different dialect and different vocabulary than they would often learn in classes.
MORE ABOUT THE COURSE
Courses: Advanced Chinese: Travel and Transportation & Advanced Chinese: Cuisine and Culture
Trip: Chengdu, China
Students will travel to China in March 2026 as part of two Advanced Chinese courses—participating in homestays and school visits across the region and experiencing various Chinese cultures. Through this trip, students will transcend their language skills to communicate more effectively, embracing cultural nuances as visitors and participants in the Chinese cultural context. They will cultivate empathy and develop a profound, interpersonal understanding of course-aligned issues. In addition, students will spend considerable time learning how to navigate situations involving travel, food, relationships, and proper social interactions. Creating those opportunities in the real world is invaluable practice; the opportunity to visit other teenagers and communicate with them about their lives and experiences will supplement the learning our students do in class.
MORE ABOUT THE COURSE
Travel is also a key-component of many of our BVR Accelerator sessions. Dedicated to deeper learning opportunities, Accelerator puts trans-disciplinary collaboration— and learning in a real-world context— front and center. During this time each year, students are able to leverage dedicated time, partnerships, and faculty resources to focus on one topic. Read more about the 2025 BVR Accelerator here.
Recent course-connected travel from the 2022-2023 school year and the 2023-2024 school year.
Beaver visits Cuba: Cuban Jazz Ensemble and Select Singers participate in musical exchange in Havana, Cuba
Beaver visits Cuba: Cuban Jazz Ensemble and Select Singers participate in musical exchange in Havana, Cuba
Students immerse themselves in the built environments of Savannah, GA
Students immerse themselves in the built environments of Savannah, GA
8th grade students tour UN Headquarters in New York City
8th grade students tour UN Headquarters in New York City
Bonjour Les Herbiers! A new exchange initiative with a school in France
Bonjour Les Herbiers! A new exchange initiative with a school in France
A big part of the immersive experience was to inspire us and teach us about different urban issues and how to solve them. Had we not gone, it would be a lot harder to understand how to identify those problems around us
Student reflection, Urbanism + The Built Environment class, Savannah, Ga.
Co-curricular travel
In addition to our course-connected trips, we are excited to continue to add co-curricular opportunities for our students to travel and explore together outside of their classroom work. From traveling with the Hiatt Center to sending the RoboSub club to its annual competition to representing themselves and our school at conferences like the NAIS Civil Leadership Summit, we invest in the work our students are doing in and out of the classroom.
Each year, Beaver students attend conferences with financial support from the Hiatt Center. These conferences include:
- Harvard Women in Business BOLD Conference
- Empower Peace Women2Women International Leadership Program,
- NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference
- City School
- Social Justice Leadership Institute
- McKinsey Youth Leadership Forum
After these experiences, students are often inspired to do a Student Directed Project or lead a social impact project.
Students visit Tulsa, OK for the We Have a Dream Action Institute & Rally
Students visit Tulsa, OK for the We Have a Dream Action Institute & Rally
Beaver’s robotics team—BeaverAUV—travels to Southern California every year for RoboSub, an international student competition focused on designing and building robotic submarines. Throughout the year, teams prepare for the event by building and testing their experimental AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles). The competition is comprised mostly of college and university teams, with Beaver as one of only four high school teams competing.
