Every two years, Lori Rezek runs a trip to France over spring break in order to allow students to practice their language in an authentic setting. The next trip will be this upcoming spring break, with the addition of Spain on the itinerary.
The biggest difference in this year’s trip is that now, not just French students can go. “This trip, I offered to both French and Spanish students,” Rezek said. “The trip is equal in the days it will visit Spain and France.”
Rezek has wanted to make this change for a while. “The Spanish students didn’t have a trip, and I wanted there to be an opportunity for them,” Rezek said. On the last trip, the itinerary got changed a little bit, and the students ended up with two days in Spain. “We went to Barcelona, and it gave me the confidence that I could lead Spanish students also, so I decided to open it up to both.”
There are eleven French students currently signed up for the trip, and only one Spanish student. The trip is primarily for students in their third or fourth year of a language course, but Kylee Beemer went her Sophomore year, while she was in French II.
“The tour company was amazing,” Beemer said. “The company I went with was very organized, and if there were problems, they figured it out. ” ACIS, the educational tour company that runs our school’s French trips, has been running tours since 1978.
According to the ACIS trip website, the itinerary is 10 days (March 12th – March 21st, 2026), and will take students to Madrid, Barcelona, Provence and Paris. Travelers will see the Teatro Real Opera House, visit the Louvre and participate in many workshops and tours.
Both Rezek and Beemer think that the trips help students grow—not only their language skills, but also their view of the world. According to Rezek the trips are “ a chance to practice the language, but even more, I think it’s to experience the culture of another country, the architecture, the food, the history.”
For years, the French trips have been a way that ADM students can see the world, and now, students in Spanish can go as well.
“Going on the trip taught me so much independence,” Beemer said. “Being able to go on a school trip, thousands of miles away from my family really helped me grow as a person.”
