TUCSON, ARIZ. (KGUN) -- — Nine curious students are keeping up with their learning on summer break.
The group of Tucson High Magnet upperclassmen had their suitcases packed Tuesday morning. Their journey would send them first to Dallas, where they jumped the Atlantic Ocean and landed in Frankfurt, Germany.
These members of the school’s travel club will spend the next seven days in Berlin. During the week, they will absorb the sights, sounds and stories from other young minds coming to an international conference on the future of environmental sustainability.
“I think definitely meeting kids from other countries,” incoming senior Liam Parnaby said about what he’s most excited to experience. “(It) definitely will be a big culture shock,” he said, “(especially)… Learning about different ways we -- our generation -- can change our future for the better."
Parnaby and fellow THMS future senior Nicandro Guereque have a couple trips with the travel club under their belt. Guereque said he’d like to learn more about how cities like Berlin have improved their own sustainable infrastructure. "It'd be important to take what they do with recycling,” Guereque said, “how they separate plastics and bottles and all that stuff."
The group’s chaperones help the students raise money to book the trips through EF Tours. This trip to Germany should be a special experience for Salome Arrieta, a soon-to-be Arizona Wildcat.
“I've actually been trying to travel for the past four years,” she said, “but because of COVID, it kept getting canceled. So, we're finally getting out there," she said, with relief. KGUN9 also asked the students what's on their must-do list of attractions and activities to enjoy over the seven-day trip.
"Probably some authentic schnitzel,” Parnaby said. "You can't go to Germany without (trying) that, right?"
"Me and my friend run a cheese Instagram account,” Arrieta said. “Entirely dedicated to cheese. So, probably try some (German) cheese."
"I'm really looking forward to trying out the bike tour there,” Guereque said, "as well as checking out most of the parks there, which I've heard are really beautiful."
