Some may have noticed the new posters around D building referencing a future trip to Europe.

This is a trip to the Global Leadership Summit, coordinated by Renee Motter, the TAG teacher at AAHS, and Education First, an educational tour company.

Motter states the purpose of the trip is “educational, the whole point is that it culminates in a leadership conference for students, with 1000 other students around the world, mostly America.”

At the Global Leadership Summit, students listen to various speakers and work together with students from around the world that they have never met.

Additionally, students work on projects and design items that they hope could benefit modern society as a whole.

An example of a prototype created at one of these summits was a strip that tests for allergens in food; it was considered the best project to come out of its session.

There are various themes for the Global Leadership Summit, which change annually. In 2019, the theme was the power of communication, and in 2020, it will be health and wellness.

However, the Global Leadership Summit is just the tip of the adventurous iceberg.

Of course, the aspect of the trip that primarily sparks students’ interests is, of course, the travel to Greece and Switzerland. Davos, Switzerland is the location of the Global Leadership Summit, so more time will be spent in Greece.

According to Motter, students will travel to Olympia, Athens and Argolida in Greece; they’ll learn specifically about the history of the Olympics in Greece.

According to the tour website, students will be spending the first eight days in Greece, and during the leadership summit, students will be “using design thinking—a creative problem-solving technique that’s been adopted by companies like Apple and Google—international teams of students will develop and present innovative solutions related to well-being.”

Students will depart in early July of 2020 for the trip and will spend almost two weeks total in Greece and Switzerland.

AAHS sophomore Yuki Tama went to the summit in 2018, and spoke highly about his experience.

“(We) listened to speeches by major innovators, worked on prototypes for life changing inventions and ate hundreds of cultural foods,” he said.

Tama attended the summit “for the three college credits and the excuse to travel.” He adds that, “anyone interested in other cultures and new ideas should go, and anyone with (the money) can go, should you talk with Ms. Motter to sign up.”

However, pricing tends to fluctuate and there are no fundraising opportunities to reduce the cost of the trip.

For more information about pricing and the trip itself, go see Ms. Motter in upper D building or visit the Education First website.