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September 15, 2026
Dear Upper School Parents and Guardians,
I hope the school year is off to a strong start for your family.
Some of the most meaningful learning happens through proximity – when students encounter a place, a story, a community or a complex question firsthand. Proximity can deepen understanding, complicate assumptions and help students see issues not simply as ideas but as lived experiences shaped by people, history and place.
This year, Columbus Academy is working to offer three domestic learning experiences designed around that kind of engagement. While each experience is distinct, they share a common purpose: students encounter complex questions firsthand, meet people doing the work, build relationships with one another and return with enhanced perspectives.
We have already introduced these opportunities to upper school students and shared information about each experience with them. We are now inviting families to learn more, talk with their children about the opportunities and complete a brief interest form to let us know whether you would seriously consider having your children participate.
OPTION 1: Ohio in Action
October 22-25, 2026
Depart Thursday around 3:00 p.m. | Return Sunday around noon
What can we learn about Ohio by encountering its challenges and possibilities firsthand – meeting the people working to address issues such as poverty, health, education, addiction and economic opportunity, and considering what effective leadership and community responsibility look like in different parts of our state?
Ohio in Action invites students to explore communities across our state while examining the connections between place, opportunity, leadership, education and social responsibility.
Students will travel to Ohio communities and college campuses to learn about challenges facing different parts of the state, including issues such as urban and rural poverty, economic opportunity, health disparities, addiction and education. Just as importantly, they will meet the people, organizations, researchers, universities and community leaders working alongside communities to create meaningful change.
The experience includes conversations with professors and researchers, meetings with community organizations and local leaders, and opportunities to explore how higher education engages the communities around it through research, service, healthcare, economic development and civic partnerships.
Students will also consider the differences among rural, urban and suburban experiences and reflect on what leadership and social responsibility can look like close to home.
Because this experience takes place in October, there is particular urgency in determining student interest so that we can finalize the itinerary and arrangements.
OPTION 2: Beyond the Border
February 11-15, 2027
El Paso, Texas & Las Cruces, New Mexico
Immigration and border policy have challenged our country for decades, across presidential administrations and political parties. What can we learn by encountering the region, the people and the institutions at the center of those questions firsthand?
Beyond the Border is an immersive experience that invites students to explore immigration and life along the U.S.-Mexico border through multiple perspectives.
Rather than approaching immigration only through headlines or political arguments, students will encounter the region firsthand and explore the relationships among immigration, law, identity, community, culture and leadership.
The experience includes opportunities to visit the U.S.-Mexico border, engage with community partners, meet with public defenders, visit Federal Immigration Court and a processing center, participate in an Immigration 101 conversation and experience the culture and geography of the region.
The experience is being developed in partnership with World Leadership School and will also include an unplugged approach that encourages students to be fully present with the people, places and experiences around them.
OPTION 3: Footsteps of Courage
February 24-28, 2027
Alabama
What can we understand differently when we stand in the places where history happened, encounter the stories of the people who lived it, and consider how communities remember, interpret and carry that history forward?
On Footsteps of Courage, students will travel to and through Alabama by bus to encounter some of the people, places, stories and choices that shaped the American Civil Rights Movement.
Students will visit historic sites including Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Lowndes Interpretive Center and the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
But this experience is about more than looking backward.
Students will consider questions such as:
- What gives ordinary people the courage to challenge injustice?
- How does a community remember difficult parts of its history?
- What responsibilities do we inherit from those who came before us?
- What does courage look like in our own time?
Through historic sites, museums, conversations, shared meals and reflection, students will connect major moments in American history to larger questions about leadership, memory, citizenship and change.
The five-day itinerary will also include opportunities for community-building and recreation alongside the historical learning.
Cost and Financial Accessibility
We recognize that cost is an important consideration for families. Final family pricing will be determined based on student participation and will take into account each family’s level of tuition assistance, if applicable.
What We Are Asking Families to Do
Please talk with your student about these three opportunities and complete the interest form below.
Families will be asked to identify:
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their children’s first-choice experience
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a second-choice experience they would also seriously consider
- whether they would be interested in their children participating in one of these domestic learning experiences this school year
The form is intended to help us gauge family interest, determine trip viability, finalize arrangements and establish family pricing. Completing the form does not constitute registration or a financial commitment.
Because Ohio in Action takes place October 22-25, we especially encourage families interested in that experience to respond promptly.
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