Last year, IB students were elated to receive an exciting opportunity to go on a trip to Spain that would also double as Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) hours. The opportunity included a stay in an IB school in Spain, trips through popular cities and several fun CAS-related activities— and it was to be available for classes ’25 and ’26 in either their junior or senior year. 

“It was really fun, and we did many activities such as rowing, volunteering with the elderly, picking up trash from public parks, playing paddle board, visiting the beach and going to churches. We explored much of the city as well as other additional cities. More than just Sevilla, we also went to Granada and Madrid,” Tori Rodriguez (’26), a past participant of the Spain trip, said.

The main reason for the cancellation was the departure of the beloved IB coordinator, Eduardo Escudero. Escudero took a large part in creating the Spain trip, with his background in world languages and extensive knowledge of IB. Now with his promotion to the district coordinator for world and dual languages, his departure has caused some large shifts in the IB program.

Any roles that he had previously filled have been left unfilled or with some administrators attempting to partially cover his duties. Even with the recent addition of the new IB coordinator, Erin Quinn the substantial time we spent being in between coordinators led to the dismissal of several IB opportunities, including the Spain trip.

The majority of sophomores last year planned on attending the trip the summer before their senior year, and only five students attended the Spain trip last summer. Having such an exciting opportunity just for it to be canceled after its first year, is incredibly disappointing.

“I was looking forward to it a lot this summer,” Reid Taggart (’26) said. “I felt like it was a great opportunity to like get almost all my CAS project done in that one trip. I think last year, just not a lot of people had heard of it, or had time to plan it into their summer schedule, because it was new. I was planning on it, so now I’m sad and if it was still happening, I would sign up immediately.”

The excitement over the trip was also raised due to the success of the first trip. The trip was held in an IB school and provided interaction with the IB program in an international setting, while still having free time for the students.

“There were times that we could go out and explore on our own, so you could experience things like a normal person living there. I loved going out and eating dinner, dancing and talking to like, you know, people there,” said past participant Violetta Wilson (’26). “At the boarding school, they offered really good amenities, and we were able to talk to people there from all over different countries. We were able to learn more about IB there [in Spain], too, which doesn’t necessarily get touched on [in the United States]. We also had a really good mentor, Alejandro, so it really sucks that no one else will be able to go on the trip.”