A tenet of the IPA middle school philosophy is the importance of building up each student’s self-efficacy and thereby establishing a nurturing and safe community.  In Turning Points 2000: Educating adolescents in the 21st Century authors Anthony Jackson and Gayle Davis observe, “The main purpose of middle grades education is to promote young adolescents’ intellectual development…to enable every student to think creatively, to identify and solve meaningful problems, to communicate and work well with others.” Besides the many cooperative and collaborative opportunities given in the school day, another important facet of the IPA middle school experience is the class trip.

Each year of middle school, the students leave home for an overnight trip where they are given the opportunity to shine in other ways outside of the classroom via leadership opportunities, participating in and triumphing through physical challenges, and team building.  The class returns to school having accomplished something together as a class, developing bonds and experiences that will translate into the academic environment.

Our sixth and seventh grade trips are overnighters that remain within Hawaii.  In the past the classes have gone to Camp Mokuleia and Camp Timeberline for leadership and team building activities.  These shorter, comprehensive trips prepare our students for the eighth grade trip to Crow Canyon Archeological Center in Cortez, Colorado.  This trip removes our 8th graders from the classroom for a week and places them in an experiential learning facility where they become archeologists aiding the scientists around them with uncovering and examining the human record of the Ancient Anasazi/Pueblo people of the area.  Our first graduation class (2010) and the first group to participate in the Crow Canyon trip all mentioned the vital role their 8th grade trip played in their lives.