Each year Lake Forest Academy focuses on a Head of School Symposium. In years previous, the topics have included Immigration, Emigration, and Migration: Culture, Citizenship, and Conflict where the HOSS trip was to Ireland, The Caribbean: Climate, Commerce, and Culture where students traveled to the Caribbean, and The Brain: Inquiry, Imagination, and Innovation taking a trip to California. This year, the Head of School Symposium is Russia: Revolution and Resurgence. The community has already integrated the HOSS into our everyday school lives through All School Meeting speakers, Head of School Symposium Day, and many other activities; however, some students took their involvement to a new level by going on the Head of School Symposium spring break trip to Russia.

Over the span of 13 days, the students and teaches embarked on a journey starting in Saint Petersburg and going all the way to Moscow, visiting Kazan and the island-town of Sviyazhsk in-between. The group did a number of activities to immerse themselves in the Russian culture including visiting museums, bus tours, Russian language classes, cooking classes, going to a Russian Ball, and visiting Russian schools. One of the most memorable experiences on the trip for All School President, Teniola Bakare, was having the opportunity to meet other high schoolers and seeing what their lives are like in comparison to the life of a LFA student.

 “I really enjoyed being able to meet Russian students that were our age.” said Bakare. “It was really interesting to see that being a teen in Russia is very similar to being a teen in the United states. We all face the same teenage issues.”

 Being from the United States, there are many misconceptions about Russians and Russian culture. However, experiencing the country hands on gave those on the trip a new perspective on the views that the Russian people have towards Americans.

“Due to America’s depiction of Russians, we expected them to really not like us, but it turned  out that they actually like America.” stated Bakare. “One of the biggest takeaways I have from the trip is that the Russian people are actually very nice and warm.”

Russia: Revolution and Resurgence is a HOSS topic that could be hard to understand at first glance. The group of students and faculty who went on the Russia spring break trip now have a more well-rounded point of view on not only our HOSS topic, but also a much more global outlook on a new culture.