Educational travel broadens our awareness of others and sharpens self-awareness, as students have the chance to gather firsthand information about the world. Seeing different landscapes, experiencing the challenges of certain cultures, and listening to the opinions of people in other countries and cities provides a deeper level of mindfulness. Profound experiences give people a sense of place and purpose, and they cultivate lifelong values and priorities.
Educational travel is very different from leisure travel or family vacations. CEA’s educational travel experiences generally take place during the school year because they are an investment in our students’ education, future and in the values that form their life.
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2010
Florence and Rome, Italy
Visual Arts Department (5th grade and up)
In March 2017, the CEA Visual Arts Department traveled to Italy for a cultural immersion educational experience, in which students got to know the culture, history, and art of Italy. Students had the chance to spend ten days in Florence and Rome, and had day trips to Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and San Gimignano. In Florence, they toured the many magnificent churches and museums in the city with a personal guide, who is an educator and enamored the students with the culture and life of Italy in an age-appropriate and exciting way. They visited Florence’s many piazzas, the churches of Santa Maria Novella, Santa Maria del Carmine, San Miniato al Monte, San Marco, Santa Croce, the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Il Duomo, the Academia Gallery, where they experienced Michelangelo’s statuary masterpiece, David, and Boticelli’s Madonna and Child, and the Uffizi Museum. In Rome, they toured the extraordinary Vatican, and toured the city, taking in the most famous sites, including the Colosseum and the Fontana di Trevi.
In addition to the cultural activities, sightseeing, and museum tours, our young artists attended art and art restoration workshops throughout the trip and visited local art schools. They took a realist drawing workshop at the Florence Academy of Art with a live model, a new experience for most of the students who atended. Mrs. Vazquez, Visual Arts Department Head, and Mrs. Martinez, CEA Librarian and Art Appreciation Mastery Advisor, worked with the students throughout the school year to prepare them for this experience.
In May 2016, a select group of Upper School students were invited to travel to New York City to learn more about their mastery areas of concentration. Journalism students in Conchita Magazine and CTV had the opportunity to tour the Columbia University School of Journalism and took time to visit several TV studios, including NBC Studios and CNN and have up-close encounters with individuals who help create the most watched news in the nation. They even experienced being in the newsroom both at NBC and CNN during breaking news!
Dance Mastery students took a Fosse class at Broadway Dance Center, a Pascal Rioult class at Ballet Hispanico, a Broadway dance workshop from On Your Feet, and a class a Paul Taylor class at The Taylor School.
Together, the students watched the Broadway musical, On Your Feet, toured Radio City Music Hall, took a Central Park bike tour and visited the 9/11 Memorial Museum. This was a fantastic experience for all the students involved!
Theatre students and students who excel in English Literature in 5th grade and up traveled to Pasadena, California in March 2016 to visit and study theatre at A Noise Within (ANW), a classical theatre repertory company in Pasadena, California founded in 1992 by CEA graduate, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott (c/o 1974) and her husband, Geoff Elliott. Since its inauguration, A Noise Within has evolved from being a small neighborhood theatre company to becoming one of the most distinguished theatre companies in the Southern California area-- consistently raising the bar on how great classical theatre can be.
At A Noise Within, theatre students had three days of intensive workshops with ANW´s educational department, as well as with professional actors and ANW Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott. The workshops centered around Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet, during which they dove into text, worked on understanding and translating Shakespearean language, acted various scenes, had improvisation classes, and even had a sword-fighting workshop with the professional sword-fighting expert who choreographed the scene in ANW´s rendition of Romeo and Juliet. They had the opportunity to explore what occurs behind the scenes in a professional theatre, learning about lighting, costume design, directing, preparing a set, and the many other aspects that go into creating a professional production. Since they were there on a three-show weekend, students had the opportunity to watch two professional performances, Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet and George Bernard Shaw´s You Never Can Tell, as well as a final rehearsal for Pirandello´s Six Characters in Search of an Author. After each show, the students benefited from attending post-show talk-backs with the actors, to further enhance their experience.
In addition to their time at ANW, students toured Los Angeles, visiting the famous Dolby Theare, Warner Brothers Studios, and spent an afternoon visiting the Santa Monica Pier.
Conservatory Spanish Dance Students and CEA Soccer Players
The CEA Spanish dance and Soccer trip to Spain was an incredible cultural immersion experience, where students had the opportunity to expand their horizons, see the world differently, and learn more, all while developing their passions.
Together, the students visited the Prado and the Reina Sofia Museums, learning about different types of art. The group visited Segovia, where they learned about the famous aqueduct and even ate the local cochinillo! In Merida, they visited the Roman amphitheatre, where thousands of years ago gladiators fought and theater was performed. They ate lunch in a typical venta in La Mancha, experiencing first hand the kind of place Cervantes described in Don Quixote, which they had been studying in their Spanish classes. They had the opportunity to watch El Rey León, the Spanish version of the Broadway musical The Lion King in Madrid, and attend typical tablaos for flamenco performances in both Madrid and Seville.
Soccer players trained with the best of the best. They had training sessions, clinics, and activities with professional coaches from Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Real Betis, and training sessions with coaches from Fundación Marcet. They learned new techniques and drills to improve their skills and develop a better understanding of the game. They played three friendly games against local teams their age, building an atmosphere of collaboration where they left with not only new skills, but also new friendships. They also visited the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, had a private tour of the Real Betis stadium, and even attended a professional soccer game!
Spanish dancers took class in the Carmen Amaya Conservatory in Madrid and Amor de Dios in Madrid, as well as Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Antonio Ruiz Soler and Fundación Flamenco Cristina Heeren in Seville. They watched a professional rehearsal of the Ballet Nacional de España, where they had the opportunity to meet and interact with their director, Antonio Najarro, and their dancers. After the rehearsal, they took a master class with principal dancer, Eduardo Martinez.
During the trip, dancers experienced the four disciplines of Spanish dance in the most formal to the most folkloric settings. The dancers took class and performed alongside young dancers from the Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Antonio Ruiz Soler in Seville, forming new friendships and bonds with children their age in another part of the world. They observed several classes and attended performances that allowed them to more deeply grasp and understand the subtleties and meaning of the dance and experience it on a more emotional and profound level, thus eventually being able to transfer that knowledge into their own performances.
Dance Mastery, Conchita Magazine Mastery, Visual Arts Mastery
Three CEA Senior Mastery groups had the opportunity to travel to New York City together for a week in 2014. During this week, not only did each mastery group further explore their area of interest, but they also had the chance to develop an appreciation and understanding of what their classmates in the other masteries do. The Visual Arts Mastery took a museum tour of New York, learning about a variety of different artists, art forms and genres. They took a private tour of the Guggenheim and visited the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Conchita Magazine attended the Scholastic Press Association Spring Conference at Columbia University, a journalism conference with workshops usually reserved for only high school and college students. Dance Mastery students took Limon, Horton, and African dance classes at The Ailey School, a Paul Taylor class at The Taylor School, and a musical theatre class at Peridance Center. Together, the students in all three masteries attended the Broadway musical Newsies, and toured New York City.
Junior and Senior Dance Masteries and Select Conservatory Dance Students
In March 2013, the CEA Junior and Senior Dance Masteries and select Conservatory dance students traveled to England to share their love of dance, take class, and visit historical sites. They first traveled to Bath, 45 minutes from Dance Mastery Advisor and Conservatory Ballet, Lyrical, and Jazz Department Head, Danella Bedford’s hometown. Bath is where Jane Eyre spent many of her writing days. From Bath, they traveled to Nailsea, where Ms. Danella grew up. In Nailsea, the CEA dancers performed in a beautiful Mother’s Day celebration, raising funds for Cerebral Palsy with their performance.
In London, students took educational tours of Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, and Westminster Abbey, among other sites. They had the opportunity to take a variety of dance classes, including a street dance class at Pineapple Studios, a classical mime class at Royal Academy of Dance, and a musical theater workshop from "Singin in the Rain" at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). They also watched a professional ballet class at the Royal Ballet School, from where Ms. Danella graduated as valedictorian and spent time as Assistant Director. They enjoyed a spectacular performance of the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House and two fantastic West End shows, Singing in the Rain and Matilda.
Our CEA Senior Choir and select members from the theatre department traveled to Puerto Rico to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the Robinson School. They were invited to share their talents by singing the mass at the Cathedral of San Juan, the second oldest cathedral in America, and at the acoustically perfect Union Church. During their time in Puerto Rico, students participated in educational tours of Old San Juan and El Yunque, making the trip a very special and a unique educational experience, in addition to the excellent opportunity to perform abroad. Our students and parents were warmly received everywhere they went and left a lasting mark on all who heard them perform.
New York City, USA
Senior Choir
In May 2010, the CEA Senior Choir was invited to join a group of 150 voices for a Memorial Day Concert in the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall by Dr. Patrick Freer, a professor of choral music from Georgia State University. Dr. Freer first met the choir and their director, Ms. Loly Lopez, at the UM Honors Choir in 2008, where he was conducting a workshop. He was so impressed with their demeanor and preparedness, that he invited them to be part of this amazing opportunity--a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. Seventeen members of the CEA Senior choir sang at Carnegie Hall alongside other young singers from across the country. Singing in Carnegie Hall is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which few artists have in their lifetime. The CEA singers not only performed in one of the top venues in the world, but they got to know other young artists from across the nation who share their passion for music.
