04/05/2026
San Francisco Intersession - Teacher Reflections
At our school, Spring Intersession is a two-week break from regular academics where students choose a course to take - cooking, baking, hiking, fishing, or travel amongst others. San Francisco was one of the travel intersessions this year, and I was grateful to be one of the chaperones. We had 42 students, 5 adults, and four very full days.
Traveling with students is very different from teaching them in a classroom. You end up talking about life, music, college, families, and everything in between. I even got to spend time with students who are no longer in my art class, and I realized how much I had missed those conversations.
I had been quite sick before the trip, and the Lands End hike was harder than I expected. I was the last one making my way up, and I remember feeling embarrassed that everyone had to wait for me. But my students just stood there, cheering me on and telling me I could do it. That moment stayed with me.
One evening, we watched MJ the Musical at the Orpheum Theatre, and for a few hours, I wasn’t thinking about attendance, head counts, or schedules. I was just a teenager again, listening to music I grew up with.
At the Redwoods, I sat in front of a 282-foot tree called “The Giant,” and later climbed into a Redwood tree through a crevice in its trunk. Standing inside a tree that has been alive longer than any of us was a strange and humbling feeling.
At Alcatraz, while everyone else explored, I found a quiet place and sketched. That small, quiet moment ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.
These trips are exhausting and unpredictable, but they give us something we don’t get inside a classroom - time. Time to talk, to laugh, and to see each other as people, not just teachers and students.
Two weeks. One journey . So many memories.
