GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — One local teacher is giving her students a firsthand history lesson. They’re now on a multi-country trip across Europe to learn all about World War II. 13 ON YOUR SIDE was at the airport to see them off.
The excitement was building as students and their families checked in for their overseas adventure.
Betsy Rybarczyk with Ada Christian School is the teacher who organized the trip. She said, “I have travelers as young as 8 years old and travelers as old as in their 70s.”
She’s a world history teacher who says, “I am a true believer that students do not learn unless they have an experience.”
She told 13 ON YOUR SIDE learning doesn’t always have to happen at school.
“Not all classrooms have four walls. Get our kids out there. Get out of the books and in real life circumstances,” said Rybarczyk.
She’s been planning overseas trips for her students for the last 13 years. This time, with a World War II theme.
“Those men truly are the greatest generation,” she said.
Isaac Cummings is a 12-year-old rising seventh grader at Ada Christian School. Traveling with his dad and brother, he said, “To see all the men who died and fought for our country, I think, is really special.”
10-year-old Kendall Vander Baan is a rising fifth grader who is traveling with her mom and brother. She said, “I think it’s going to be really cool but it’s also going to be very meaningful to see what happened in World War II.”
Brent Applegate is going on the trip with his daughter, who will be a seventh grader in the fall. He told 13 ON YOUR SIDE his family chose to sign on because it “seemed like a really great opportunity for her to see a lot of Europe in a short period of time.”
“It’s a four-country tour,” said Rybarczyk.
Starting in London, Rybarczyk explained “we’re going to be going to the Imperial War Museums. We’ll be visiting Winston Churchill’s war rooms. So, actually being down in the bunkers of where Churchill planned and strategized against the ultimate evil.”
They’re also stopping in Normandy, France, and “at that point, we’ll go to the American Cemetery and memorial there and then also Omaha and Utah Beaches,” said Rybarczyk.
Though the trip was months in the making, after recently coming across our story about D-Day soldiers from Kent County on the 13 ON YOUR SIDE website, Rybarczyk said she realized Sergeant Clarence Reverski of Grand Rapids is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.
Rybarczyk said she wondered, “has anyone in his family ever been able to visit him?”
She decided to print out Sgt. Reverski’s picture and frame it to leave at his gravesite.
“We’re going to pay tribute to him and I’m extremely excited to have this moment. 80 years after died he’s going to be acknowledged and realize he has never been forgotten,” said Rybarczyk.
There may be even a family connection. Rybarczyk’s husband’s grandfather also fought on D-Day. “And it turns out he was a part of the 115th infantry and so was Clarence and for all sakes and purposes they could very well have known each other,” she said.
The students will also see the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site in Germany, and the site known as Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Austria.
“This just really opens up their horizons that there is more to the world than West Michigan,” said Applegate.
Rybarczyk said she’s on a mission to put an end to the myth that kids shouldn’t travel.
“Travel literally forms you, who you are. Understanding cultures, and language, and learning how to be flexible and all these life skills. Making history come to life. So, do you wait until your child is 18 and old enough to teach them to be polite? No,” said Rybarczyk.
She’s encouraging other teachers to incorporate travel into their lesson plans. She’s created a website as a resource to help other teachers learn to travel the world with their students.
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