MFS is offering overnight Intensive Learning trips again after them being unavailable for the past two years due to the pandemic. However, due to the late decision to run trips, the schedule for the trip planning, presentations, and selection process is occurring in the winter this year rather than the fall. 

On December 17, 2021, the Upper School sent out an email announcing the return of overnight trips. Following this announcement, the overnight trip selection process occurred January 10, 2022. In previous years, the Intensive Learning overnight trip selection occurred in October and November. 

Upper School Director Noah Rachlin explained the reasoning behind the delayed timeline. 

“We were committed to trying to run overnight programs if we could, so we wanted to give ourselves as long as possible to try to make that decision because if we had to make the decision sooner, the most prudent thing to do would be to say no. So, we recognized that by giving ourselves a little bit longer runway, we thought we gave ourselves the best chance of saying ‘yes,’” explained Rachlin.

Rachlin continued, “As soon as the school and CRT said ‘yes,’ we then had to engage in this really rushed process of talking with faculty members and them expressing interest in running trips and working with partners to try to plan trips. …We had to know that we were going to have enough trips and that we were going to have spots [for the entire senior class].”

In addition to teachers engaging in a “rushed” planning process, students also encountered a similar feeling when having less than a week between the overnight trip presentations and the selection process.

Senior Lia Marshall said, “I just wish that they gave us more time to decide between the options because it just felt so rushed. I also wished that we would’ve known more about the local programs, like I wanted to know something about them. I just wanted to know the names of the programs at the very least because I was worried about traveling or doing an overnight trip.”

Aidan Short ’23 described his experience selecting a trip: “The selection process has really put the intensive in Intensive Learning. There was a lot of stress within my grade throughout the day, because people had to stay after school to select.” 

Despite an influx in COVID cases at the beginning of January, administration and the CRT are committed to running overnight trips. 

Rachlin stated, “I felt like when we came back last year and it was during a pandemic, the two things I got asked the most about were Spirit Week and Intensive Learning, and that just communicated to me how important those experiences are. So this year, as we found ourselves in a somewhat different place in the pandemic than we were last year, it felt important to try to prioritize figuring out a way to have Intensive Learning programs. Especially, in the Upper School, the overnight trip is a really important part of Intensive Learning and knowing that in particular for the senior class who hasn’t experienced Intensive Learning for the past few years, many of [the seniors] have never gotten to experience that.”

Rachlin and the CRT recognize the uncertainty of the pandemic but explained, “We wouldn’t have gone forward this far if we weren’t committed to doing everything we can to have these programs run, and also not just hopeful, but feeling pretty good about the ability to run these programs.”

The overnight trips being offered this year are Alaskan Aurora Adventure; Honolulu, Hawaii; Give Kids the World (Florida); Service and Adventure in Puerto Rico: Hurricane Maria Relief; and US National/State Parks: Exploration and Service. Latin Culture in NYC, an overnight program organized by the Spanish department, was also an original proposal, but not enough students signed up for the program to run.

Due to the pandemic, all of the overnight programs are domestic, rather than international like previous years.

Senior Roni Kennedy commented, “The different trips are super exciting this year, but they’re also kind of far. I was super excited to go to Hawaii, but that flight is so long. I miss international travel. Some of those trips were closer than either Alaska or Hawaii.”

Other students were less excited. Peter Tummarello ’22 commented, “I was just a little disappointed when I saw the list come out, and I was last and there was not a possibility of me being able to get a top choice considering I was senior who was supposed to travel in 2020  … .”  

Akemi Moriuchi, MS/US PE and Health Teacher, commented, “This is my first Intensive Learning besides June Week. I am excited to look at another culture … We do have some things in place, with precautions and travel insurance, so hopefully things will be fine. One thing about Hawaii is that Hawaii can close its borders if it wants. But I think we are headed in the right direction. I’m hopeful!” 

Hawaii’s Governor David Ige recently announced that starting in two weeks, boosters may be required to enter Hawaii without having to quarantine for a five-day period.

The next step in the Intensive Learning process is rolling out the local programs. Rachlin explained, “We don’t have a full slate of programs at this time because of the condensed timeline … So in order to meet the deadline for overnight programs, we prioritized that, and now we shift to local programs. We will share those as soon as we have them — our hope is to be able to do that in the next handful of weeks.”