“The program of having high school students study the ancient cultures will continue each year and, in fact, may expand to more than one trip per year,” Wilks said.
The students from Hamilton and Badin high schools were the first from the area to study abroad at the Harry Wilks Study Center in Naples, Italy. Last summer, the program sent 10 Hamilton High School students to the Villa Vergiliana.
Badin High School was added to the experience this year.
Albion Dean, an incoming senior at Hamilton High School, took the trip to Italy during the first summer last year. He said the trip “opened my mind” to the possibility of traveling outside his hometown region.
“My whole life I pictured it around the Hamilton and Cincinnati area,” Dean said. “There’s a whole different world out there. It inspired me to want to travel.”
Students on the trip this summer from HHS were Angela Cupp, Lidia Recalde, Georgia Kinch, Austin Lauer and Dwight Sims. The Badin group included Andy Gray, Morgan Langhammer, Lilly Steger, Katherine Schindler and Austin Wishart.
The group traveled from June 13-22 — spending two days in Rome and a week in Italy. The students learned about the Roman empire and Greek culture during day trips to various sites, followed by evening study sessions at the villa, Wilks said.
The group traveled to the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum that were destroyed by volcanic flows in 79 A.D., and viewed the Roman Colosseum and Pantheon. The group also took a boat to the island of Capri where they climbed to the top of Mount Solaro.
“You can read about things in textbooks and look at pictures on the Internet, but you don’t know what it’s like until you’re there in the culture and with the people,” said Georgia Kinch, a senior at HHS. “Rome looked like the postcards you’ve seen.”
Angie Gray, mother to Badin student Andy Gray, said the trip to Italy this summer brought her son’s love of history to life. Gray said her son held a fundraiser to collect the $2,500 portion that each family had to contribute.
“He’s always been someone who loved books and history, but to be able to see it and crawl around the ruins opened a new world to him,” Gray said.
High school juniors and seniors that may be interested should contact Keith Millard at the Hamilton Board of Education and Kelli Kurtz from Badin High School.
“It’s tourist travel you get education from,” Wilks said.
About the Author