Travel Opportunities
The Chatham Hall Service Program in South Africa (March 11-23, 2012)
Chatham Hall’s signature program in Cape Town, South Africa, now in its sixth year, is the largest of its several travel programs. In fact, one out of three students in last year’s student body traveled to South Africa between 2008 and 2011.
Before leaving for South Africa in March, student participants will take an intensive seminar to help them understand the historical and social texture of contemporary South Africa. Once there, they will
• collaborate with teachers and prepare meals at the Caravelle Primary School, a powerful force in the under-resourced Bloekombos Township;
• clear land, prepare and cultivate gardens, and renovate greenhouses in various townships through Soil for Life, a dynamic self-empowerment agency;
• undertake environmental projects at the Cape Town Bird Sanctuary;
• participate in a range of work projects and play activities with children at the Brave Heart Home orphanage; and
• undertake a range of repairs, prepare and serve food, and tutor children at the Steenvliet Primary School.
Before returning to our Virginia boarding school, students will collaborate and visit two high schools in Cape Town. They will also take two safari trips to sight rhinos, leopards, elephants, lions, and buffalo, take a guided tour of Robben Island (where Nelsen Mandela was imprisoned for eighteen years), visit the gorgeous Malay Quarter of Cape Town, travel by cable car up breathtaking Table Mountain, and travel to other beautiful sites in Cape Town.
Learn more about this exciting opportunity by clicking here.
French and Spanish Language Study/Home-Stay Programs
At our Virginia boarding school, foreign language students have the opportunity to strengthen their understanding and speaking of French and Spanish through the Foreign Language Department’s Study/Home-Stay Program. Programs in Spanish and French are offered in alternating years.
Mexico is the site of the 2012 summer program. Students taking any level of Spanish may apply.
Mexico: June 5-June 30, 2012 (Dates are subject to change.)
Spanish students participating in the Chatham Hall Study/Home-Stay Program will have the adventure of a lifetime. They will significantly improve their Spanish through language classes, a home-stay, and an intercambio with a Mexican student of about the same age, studying English at the school. Students will visit 2,000-3,000 year-old pyramids and ruins, one of the world’s largest cities, Mexico City, and one of the most charming colonial cities in Mexico, Oaxaca. In addition, students will work with an artisan to learn a craft—ceramics, weaving, or woodworking.
The cost of the program is $4,500, including airfare, hotels, excursions, housing in Oaxaca, most meals, and tuition. Not included are the costs of a passport, some meals, taxis and personal expenses.
Registration and a $2,000 deposit are due December 1, 2011. Click here for more information or contact Kim Jackson at either 434.432.2941, Ext. 276, or kjackson@chathamhall.org.
France
From June 9 to 27, 2011, students traveled to France. In Paris, students visited places they studied in the classroom–the Catacombs, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, the River Seine, and the oldest ice cream shop in Paris, Berthillon's. During a stay of twelve days in Amboise–a lovely, traditional town, and the site of Leonardo da Vinci’s house and tomb—they lived with host families, attended school in the mornings, and spent afternoons touring and practicing the language in markets, cafés, boutiques and hair salons. A similar opportunity to be immersed in the French language will be available in June 2013.
Experiment In International Living
Thanks to the support of a generous alumna from our Virginia boarding school, the Experiment in International Living and Chatham Hall have developed an exciting partnership that provides three students in their sophomore or junior years the opportunity of living abroad. Students are selected by the School after filling out an extensive application indicating the country they would like to visit and why they wish to visit it, what they expect to learn from the culture of this country, and their thoughts on such topics as communication, art, and music. Finalists also undergo a rigorous interview by the EIL program director.
Since summer 2009 the following Chatham Hall students have participated in the program:
Summer 2009
Lillian Calhoun ’11, Belize
Ardra Hren ’11, France
Alyssa Edes ’10, Republic of Korea
Summer 2010
Sandra De Anda '11, Argentina
Elizabeth Ferlise '11, France
Catherine Merwin’11, China
Summer 2011
Bell Johnson’11, China
Charlotte Jones ’11, Costa Rica
Trilby Hren’12, France
The Hallam Hurt ’63 Student & Faculty Foreign Travel Award
Through the generosity of Frances Hurt, a former trustee and parent of an alumna, Chatham Hall is able to offer an annual travel award for foreign study and research to a student and a faculty member or members who will serve as her sponsor/s. After applications have been submitted and reviewed by the Hurt Award Committee, funds ($6,202 for the 2011-2012 school year) are granted to support this student and teacher/s to travel together on this project of independent study. The student keeps a journal during the trip, and after the trip she makes a presentation about her experiences to the Chatham Hall Community and invited guests. The student may be a freshman, sophomore, or junior at the time of application.
Application Process
A student should apply for the award by selecting a faculty member who is interested in her project and is available to take the trip in the time proposed. The student and teacher should work together to submit a proposal to the Academic Dean on or before November 4, 2011.
Since 2005 when the award was established the following students and teachers have participated in this program:
2011 Libby Goldstein ’12 /Cricket Stone (Spain and Germany)
Influence of the Andalusian Horses Upon Modern-day Sport
Horse Breeds
2010 Tyler Burkett ’11 / Dennis Reichelderfer (Germany)
The Life of Sophie Scholl & the White Rose Movement:
Resistance to the Rise of the Nazis
2009 Amy Hendricks ’10 / Ken Tyburski (Italy)
Molta Musica: An Appraisal of Musical History in Italy
2008 Grace Fulop ’09 / Geoff Braun (England)
Study of Evolution of Pilgrimage in England
2007 Kaitlin Tebeau ’08 / Caswell Nilsen (Scotland)
Understand the impact of the Scottish Highland Clearance of the 18th/19th centuries on the clan system, in order to attempt to write a fictional account based on a historical understanding of those events.
2006 Isabella Yeager ’07 / Alan Spearman (England)
Research wife of medieval poet John Gower
2005 Courtney Atkinson ’06 / Ann Beal (Russia)
Investigation of the literature of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy
(Travel to St. Petersburg and Moscow Russia)
New Mexico: “Spa for the Girlfriend Soul: Mothers, Daughters, and Friends” (June 11-17, 2012)
Imagine a space where a woman or girl can discover why she exists – a space to linger in the joyful, powerful, and deeply spiritual connections between women and girls, a space for women and girls to explore together what it means to be a person who can make a difference, who can move the world. Imagine such a space as a kind of "spa" for mothers, daughters, and women-friends to come together. This is a "spa" that invites their whole self – body, mind and spirit – to be renewed and refreshed in an amazing setting with wonderful resources.
During summer 2012, Chatham Hall will offer the "Spa for the Girlfriend Soul" to Chatham Hall families and friends. The School is in the process of securing a location close to Ghost Ranch, a 21,000 square mile camp and conference center in New Mexico near Abiquiu. Ghost Ranch is the area that surrounds the home of Georgia O’Keeffe, Chatham Hall's best known alumna. It is the setting in which she painted some of her most inspired landscapes—a spiritual place filled with beauty. The resources of the area–including the O’Keeffe Museum and places for horseback riding, kayaking, hiking, massage and meditation–are exceptional.
Chatham Hall’s chaplain, Dr. Ned Edwards, will lead the course along with Dori Baker P'13, Ph.D. and Joyce Mercer, Ph.D. Dori is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church who writes and teaches about spiritual practices that are reviving the Church, especially those that inspire youth and young adults. She is scholar-in-residence to The Fund for Theological Education and frequently leads retreats based on her book Doing Girlfriend Theology: God-Talk with Young Women.
Joyce is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who teaches at Virginia Theological Seminary. She writes on a wide range of topics, including conflict and peace building, feminist theology, and the spiritual lives of women and girls. She is the author of Girltalk/Godtalk: Why Faith Matters to Teenage Girls – and Their Parents.
Click here for the brochure for this exciting opportunity.
For more information contact Chaplain Ned Edwards directly at nedwards@Chathamhall.org.
