The Intro Trip goes to Berlin
Well begun is, as we know, half done. This also applies when it comes to getting off to a good start in a new class. At Birkerød Gymnasium, the introductory trip is always immediately after the start of the study packeges in November, so that the future classes can quickly get to know each other very well.
This school year, we have chosen to prioritize this trip even more than we usually do by sending the students on a three-day trip to Berlin.
There are many good reasons for the trip to Berlin. Berlin can be reached by bus, and at BG we pay close attention to ensuring sustainable study tours. In addition, Berlin, with its many green areas, allows us to stick to carrying out many fun outdoor team building activities, which is important in terms of an intro tour, and which our intro team are specialists in.
222 1.g STX students and 16 teachers were therefore on shift in Berlin over week 46, just as 90 1g Pre-IB students and seven teachers were in Berlin from Monday to Wednesday in week 45.
As mentioned, the main purpose of the trip was to give the students a good shake-up in their new classes, and the good atmosphere was there right from the start, when the students entered the buses on their way to Berlin, where they had fun, sang and listened to music.
Over the days, the students were divided into groups across their new major classes, so they had time to get to know different new classmates. The program offered i.a. on a city walk, selfie treasure hunt, team building activities, evening entertainment with various competitions and an excursion day with the class leader of the individual class. The team-building activities took place in a beautiful autumn-coloured park, located directly opposite the hotel. Here the classes competed against each other in tasks such as how to turn a tarpaulin while 29 students stand on top of it and an advanced form of blindfold in pairs. The team building session ended festively with a joint dance!
The classes' trip with their class leaders offered many exciting experiences for the different classes. Some classes visited Berlin's answer to the Experimentarium, Spektrum, others made their way past German memorials such as Bernauer Strasse, where you can see the Berlin Wall as it looked during the Cold War, one class visited the infamous Stasi prison Hohenschöenhausen, while others again went to the Spy Museum . All in all, some really nice days that strengthened the unity of the new classes, were full of good mood, but also called for reflection.
In the afternoon of the third day, the trip went back to Denmark and BG, and again the atmosphere in the bus was excellent, although some students were a little more tired than when they left BG.
Now there must be an evaluation with both students and teachers, but there is no doubt that the students have enjoyed the days in Berlin and have been shaken together extra well. The good social cohesion, as we all know, also creates fertile ground for the good professional collaboration, so now all that remains is to wish all 1st grade students some really wonderful years at BG.