The trip, which involved 11th and 12th-grade ITGS and Computer Science students, was divided up into a week's worth of visits and activities which focused on technology developments in the region and their impacts worldwide. It also included a whole day tour of San Francisco.
The group was transported from San Francisco to San Jose on a huge bus driven by Jose or as we came to call him Don Josecito. The first stop on this leg of the trip was the Intel Museum for a 2-hour tour including lab visit.
Day 1
Intel provided one of the most powerful experiences on the trip. The tour guide delivered a hands-on workshop for our students and a very complete tour of this small museum, which included the history of Intel and its microchips, real ingots and wafers, and the chance to put on the garments used in the clean rooms of chip manufacturing. The day ended with a trip to K1 Speedkart where the students had the opportunity to whiz around the track while competing for first place in the mini Grandprix!
It was all very exciting and it would seem that they were already well practiced!
Day 2
On Day 2 we got up early and bused ourselves over to GOOGLE. I don't think any of us truly realised the extent of Google's Campus until we arrived at the wrong end (our phone was acting up) and walked all the way across.
We were well received by a member of the Google Earth team John, who gave our students the overview of several Google projects including Street View and Expeditions. The students were given their very own Google Cardboard viewers to try out during the session and take home prior to visiting the snack bar.
John then led the group on a walking tour of the campus. Each member was handed a 360-degree camera and selfie stick (these were loaners) so that they could take their own 360-degree images of the tour to use with their viewers. We polished off the visit with a Google-sized lunch at the outdoor cafeteria, a visit with the Android lawn statues and a visit to the Google Store.
Our next stop was Stanford University, where the students participated in a very interesting tour lead by a 2nd-year student and included the history of Stanford, a walk around the grounds, information on academic and non-academic programs, Q/A and of course the bookshop!
We topped off the day with a visit to the Great Mall!
Day 3
During day 3 we visited the Computer History Museum. This was a self-led tour during through which the students learned about the 2000 years of computing history.The museum contains 1,100 artifacts! It was geek paradise!
Nasa Ames Research Centre was our next stop. The kids got to touch a moon rock and space shuttle tires, walk in a model space station, build virtual solar systems and more. Of course, they also made a stop at the gift shop.
We finished off the day with a walk down Mountain View's Castro Street.
Day 4
During Day 4 we took a short morning walk in the Sofa District and visited the Tech Innovation Museum.
At the museum, students were treated to their first Imax movie as well as a self-guided tour of the museum's abundant displays and activity centres. They programmed, played with sensors and AI, viewed the human machine from within and tried hovercraft. Some of our kids even strapped on VR Googles and took their exploration to the skies in a VR flying tour of the Manhatten skyline through the Birdly tour.
Our next stop was Apple Park. We weren't allowed into the mothership, but the kids could view it from the visitor's centre as well as through a model sporting augmented reality layers.
Day 5
This was our San Francisco Tour day. You shouldn't go to San Francisco without visiting certain landmarks and so we did.
This was our San Francisco Tour day. You shouldn't go to San Francisco without visiting certain landmarks and so we did.
The group ferried over to Alcatraz, did the cell block tour, which was fabulous, toured the wharves, walked to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch and took an afternoon bus tour of the city which included historical landmarks such Victorian homes, parks, and of course a ride over the Golden Gate bridge.
Day 6
Back to El Salvador!
Back to El Salvador!
We packed a lot into this trip and managed to tire the kids out by the end of each day, prior to catching some sleep so they could get up bright and early for the next adventure.
Did I mention that the trip was amazing? The learning, discoveries, and discussions that took place were powerful and it was wonderful to watch students from different year groups and specialist subjects bond even further as part of our little community of travelers.
The experiences and learning that came out of them, coupled with the friendships that were forged will stick with them for a very long time.
We would like to thank all of the parents and students who made this memorable trip possible!
