De Cambra Goes to Greece
August 19, 2015
Once school is out, it’s the time of year for Diamond Bar High School math teacher Shari De Cambra to take her students sightseeing. This summer, De Cambra went on a 10-day trip to Greece along with 12 students.
Their trip began on July 16 in one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece — Athens. For the first three days, they stayed in Athens to admire some of its more well-known attractions, such as the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon. They then continued on to a four-day cruise in which Celestyal Cruises transported them to five different islands.
The students’ first day aboard the ship brought them to Mykonos, where they were able to visit several of the island’s churches. During the next two days, they went to Patmos, Ephesus, and Rhodes — some of the largest Dodecanese islands. On the last day of the cruise, they stopped by Crete and Santorini, where the students got the chance to walk around the marketplace as well as ride cable cars to tour the entire island.
“I signed up for the experience of going out of the country on my own. I also wanted to learn the history and culture of Greece,” sophomore Sarah Park said via Facebook.
As she did last year, De Cambra entrusted this year’s excursion to Educational Tours, the tour company that led her students. The Brahmas were also accompanied by other groups from different states, like Texas and Mississippi.
“We had a great time seeing the beauty and doing fun stuff like kayaking, paddle boarding, banana boating, cruising the islands, shopping, parasailing, and hiking,” De Cambra said.
Last year’s access to the trip was limited to De Cambra’s former students due to her class advisor responsibilities. However, this year she was able to accept any DBHS student, regardless of whether or not she had known them before.
Her goal for taking students on international trips every year is to expose them to other countries, cultures, and customs that they’ve never seen or experienced for themselves before. De Cambra began her annual summer traveling with students three years ago, and intends to carry on with this tradition.
“If all goes well, I plan to do a trip each summer after summer school gets out. Next summer I will either be traveling to Spain, Ecuador, or the Galapagos islands.” De Cambra said.
