Along with our great traditions the beginning of each school year in the ICS Upper School brings with it Class Trips, a tradition students talk about for years to come! During Class Trips, students get to know one another, build strong bonds as a class community, and learn about our ICS values of kindness, well-being, and excellence.

 

The ninth grade Class Trip takes students overnight to the Pecometh Camp and Retreat Center on the Eastern Shore. Students and their advisors focus on team building through having shared experiences including low- and high- ropes course elements. Participation in activities is challenge by choice; everyone is encouraged to participate and supported in positive risk-taking, but no one is forced to participate. We focus on leadership and communication skills, relationship building, class bonding, and making memories. Students spend two days mostly outdoors participating in a variety of ropes course and nature-based activities, as well as some independent time for reflection. We eat our meals together, and in the evening, sit by a campfire and connect. See recent pictures. 

 

In 2021-22, the tenth and eleventh grades also took overnight trips as they didn't have the opportunity to do so during the pandemic. Going forward, the tenth and eleventh grades trips will be curricular-focused, extending their World History and United States History studies into the "real world". Locations to include the Walters Art Gallery and Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, and in Washington, D.C., the Capitol, Mt. Vernon, the Holocaust Museum, and the African American History Museum. Students will also visit the Harriet Tubman Education Center on the Eastern Shore. In each location, students will also visit a college with their class, learning about different kinds of colleges and universities as they start thinking about their own paths. 

 

In twelfth grade, instead of a class trip, students are given two days off in the fall to visit colleges on their own and to work on their applications. In place of a trip, we invite students to a celebratory evening in the fall including dinner and a live show.