FORT MADISON - Kristi Roach, the Fort Madison High School Social Studies Teacher, organized an unforgettable World War II and historical sightseeing trip for 63 students, spanning 11 days total.
Roach is passionate about students seeing real parts of history and visiting places we are taught about in school for a more dynamic, comprehensible experience. This is her second time taking students on this trip in three years.
“Never did I ever expect back when I started doing this in 2022, that I’d have such a huge demand of kids that would be interested,” said Roach, who was excited that there was more flexibility in choosing where they want to go since they had well above the required amount of 40 kids who signed up.
After the school board approved Roach’s plan, the trip’s logistics, vendors, event supplies, and funding were organized through Education First, a private international education company that organizes student abroad trips, study programs, etc.
"We have local businesses that have been super awesome about making sure we have supplies and facilities to make these funds and raise money," said Roach, who hosted fundraiser events with the help of local businesses and set up a working schedule for the students to earn their part.
The students who signed up for the trip raised $4,700 each by working at the events for their fundraiser, along with financial help from their families, from the fall of 2024 until February this year.
On March 15, the students departed from Fort Madison High School, after huddling together for the first of many group pictures as they would travel through Europe.
They first arrived in Berlin, where they stayed for four days doing guided tours of the city, Kurfurstendamm, visiting the Jewish Museum, Topography of Terror Museum, and the Reichstag building.
While walking on a guided tour through the city of Berlin, Roach documented a few of the 116,000 gold-plated ‘stumbling stones’ created by artist Gunter Demnig that lie on sidewalks all over Europe in front of homes where Holocaust victims last resided. She said they were scattered everywhere, along busy streets, and she said she was taken aback at how young so many of these named victims were, and how many of the plates represented whole families.
They also went to notable sites such as the vibrantly graffiti-covered remains of the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, and Checkpoint Charlie, where a few of the kids had insisted on trying the food there, Roach humorously recounted. As they entered Checkpoint Charlie, the most popular crossing point of the Berlin Wall made by the U.S. during the Cold War, Roach said there's a flag with a Russian and U.S. soldier on either side, signifying unity post-Cold War.
They flew to Krakow for a guided tour of the Auschwitz and Birkenau State Museum, where they took a busy guided tour, getting an up close view of the inhumane conditions and buildings specifically engineered for industrial-level human extermination.
For Roach and the students, it was a heaviness immediately upon entering the camp. She described walking in and being astonished by the brutal layout of the bunkers, and later seeing the freight train carriages used to carry Holocaust victims in and out of the death camp.
“The most serene and sobering was Auschwitz, by far,” added Roach.
The class also rode to Nuremberg to see the Nazi Documentation Center and Courtroom 600. They traveled to Munich to observe the White Rose walking tour and the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.
"Dachau was just huge," said Roach, who was in awe of the grim site, the endless columns of barracks and The dug up grounds lining the indoor perimeter, confronting visitors with the magnitude of the Holocaust unimaginable crimes against humanity.
Roach emphasized the importance of including exciting things to see in between the emotionally heavy memorials and sites. They visited a massive, 500-year-old, hilltop residence for Polish monarchs, called Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow. One of Roach’s favorite spots was the Krakow Cloth Hall, which she described as one of the oldest shopping malls in the world, and one particular shop had a substantial amount of true amber jewelry, which can only be found in that city.
They took a tour in Munich, going to the Olympic Stadium, Residenz, and the Marienplatz, or main square.
“I really enjoyed the entire trip. My favorite part was visiting Munich, Germany. The architecture was interesting. I feel lucky that I attended a school that provides opportunities like this for students,” said Justice Lightfoot, one of the students who went on the trip.
Their last stop before heading back to Munich was Salzburg, a favorite spot for the students because it was Mozart’s birthplace and one of the filming locations for The Sound of Music. Roach said when they made their way to the Hohensalzburg castle and the overlook, they had a panoramic view of Salzburg; they could see the famous rolling hills, an especially green, serene landscape surrounding the city.
"Salzburg was the last place we went. I had kids who were like, ‘Why did we come here last? Why weren’t we here before now? This is the coolest place,'” said Roach.
Roach said doing this trip was important to her because of the strong student interest, and since Fort Madison High School is in an area where lots of people are low-income, she wanted to create access to opportunities for kids who otherwise wouldn’t go.
“I feel, in some cases, many of these kids wouldn’t have gone because their families couldn’t afford it, if it weren’t for trips like this,” said Roach.
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MJKilloren
Kristi Roach: thank you for providing an amazing personal and educational opportunity for our FMHS students. An opportunity like this was never available to us as students 60-plus years ago. My later European and Mediterranean experiences as a military member influenced my desire to pay homage to and interview our own World War 2 combat veterans years later when I retired. I’m confident one or more student members of that group will someday share their experience and memories as a teacher themselves. Michael J. Killoren
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