The Long Trip was revived in 1996 by Fern Khan, then Dean of Continuing Education, and Carol Hillman, a Bank Street alumna and former Board of Trustees member. Attendees to these "new" Long Trips include students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Bank Street. The fifteenth of these trips took participants to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2015.
Visit the 2015 image gallery to see pictures from the trip.
The focus for this Long Trip was to visit a forest school. With Caroline McKenna as guide, trippers navigated the city using local transportation and a lot of walking. The first experience was at the Mariendal Friskole, a local independent school. The group was broken up into smaller units and placed in math, science and english language learning classes. Then the entire school assembled in the gym for their daily group meeting where teachers role-play and students are able to intervene and change the scenario, a fantastic educational and confidence building experience. Later, they joined one of the teachers for refreshments in his home. Participants also drove through the various neighborhoods including Christiana, a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood and a commune.
The forest school they visited began as a summer camp 157 years ago. Funded by the government, the Forest school has 66 children, a building for a variety of activities and a nearby forest. They assembled for a session on the school’s philosophy, learning all that they could and then spent much time observing and interacting with the children.
To view a timeline and map of the newer Long Trips, visit the Bank Street Continuing Professional Studies site.
