ABOVE: Martin Luther High School students and staff stand in front of the Tower Bridge in London. From left: Gina Pytleski, Johana Wiederhoeft-Weihe, Chloe Nestegard, Vienna Thomas, Lilly Nestegard, teacher Amanda Bergt, Maeson Olson, teacher Rebecca Oerman, teacher Teresa Kiehl, TJ Pytleski and Mataya Pytleski. Submitted photo

NORTHROP – Six Martin Luther High School (MLHS) students got the opportunity of a lifetime to visit parts of Scotland and England, including London, after four years of planning and fundraising.

This most recent trip spanned from June 8- June 19. Trip leader and history teacher Amanda Bergt said they try to have a trip at least once every three years.

“That would give the students a chance to come at one point,” she said. “We were thrown off maybe a little bit, with Covid and stuff like that. It was actually four years since our last trip, but we look at interest and how many students would like to go, and we had enough.”

English teacher and chaperone Rebecca Oerman said this is the sixth trip Martin Luther has been able to do. They have done England and Scotland before, but they have also traveled to Italy, Spain, Austria, France and Switzerland.

“We’ve used the company EF, who specializes in educational tours,” Oerman said. “They have dozens of trips to choose from, foreign and domestic, and they arrange flights, hotels, buses and tour guides.”

By using a familiar company, they were able to make adjustments to tailor their trip. For example, Martin Luther students studied Shakespeare plays during the school year, so a stop at the Globe Theatre to see “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was added to match up with that learning experience.

Two years were spent fundraising to make this trip possible, including a Mother’s Day brunch, scrip gift cards, Pizza Ranch tip nights and selling sub sandwiches for the Super Bowl, of which they sold over 200.

Letters were sent out to families via email letting them know about it and an interest meeting was held to share information with as many people in person as possible.

“We’re a relatively small school, so it’s pretty easy to get the word out to everybody,” Bergt said.

Junior Lilly Nestegard said she really wanted to go on this trip when she first heard about it.

“We were talking with my parents,” she said. “They’re like, ‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so might as well take it.’ Everything’s already set up for you, so you don’t have to do any extra work to do that.”

“I thought it was really cool that we got this opportunity, because we’ve never been out of the country,” Lilly Nestegard’s sister and senior Chloe Nestegard said.

In Scotland, they got to see the University of Glasgow and the National Piping Center, where they got to learn to play bagpipes, Loch Ness, Doune Castle and the Glenfinnan Viaduct seen in Harry Potter, as well as overall traveling along the Scottish Highlands.

ABOVE: Martin Luther High School Student Lilly Nestegard learns how to play the bagpipes at the National Piping Center in Glasgow, Scotland.

In England, in addition to the play at the Globe Theatre, they went to the National Portrait Gallery, saw Big Ben, witnessed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, went to Westminster Abbey and rode the London Eye.

Along the way, they got to walk, ride the bus and take trains to their destinations.

“I think the transportation was pretty flawless,” chaperone Teresa Kiehl said. “They had everything orchestrated very well, you know. It was nice to experience all those different types of transportation.”

“All the traveling in Scotland is really pretty and scenic, but in London, there was just a lot of traffic in the city,” Chloe Nestegard said.

To have had this opportunity, Lilly Nestegard said it is a really great thing Martin Luther students can experience.

“Especially for as small a school that we have, that you know we’re able to go and explore this different stuff, even though there’s only like 70 people in our school,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be just the bigger schools and bigger areas.”

In bringing this opportunity to the students, Bergt said it is a great thing to be able to do that is fun, but also educational and culturally eye-opening.

“Everybody’s been very, very supportive,” she said. “A lot of feedback we get from the community and from supporters of the school has been very positive.”

As for what happens now, it’s back to the drawing board as the three-year cycle starts again.

“Amanda and I look at the catalog or online at what trips are available, what interests us and what we think the students would be interested in and get a little feedback,” Oerman said.