ACIS Teacher Spotlight: Egypt Reflections

Cathy has traveled with ACIS for more than two decades, and this past summer she brought her students to Egypt. Learn more about what the experience was like and how it will affect her teaching going forward.

Discover the ACIS Ancient Egypt Itinerary

Tell us a little about yourself! What and where do you teach?

I am beginning my 32nd year of teaching world history, American history and psychology. I currently teach at Spirit Lake High School in Iowa.

When did you begin traveling with ACIS?  Any highlighted trips to share?

I took my first trip with ACIS in 2000 and have never traveled with another company, as I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with ACIS. I have traveled to Italy, France, England, Spain, Greece Turkey and Egypt.

How did you decide Egypt was the destination for your group?

I took a student group there in 2010, 6 months before the revolution, and fell in love with Egypt and have been waiting for ACIS to return it to their catalog. As soon as they did, I put a trip together!

What classroom goals did you have for your trip? Did you feel the itinerary helped you meet those goals?

I simply wanted my travelers to experience the culture, learn the history, dispel stereotypes and make memories. The Egypt itinerary is a perfect balance of a tour and a vacation.

In addition to the itinerary, the trip was a success because of the tour guide and tour manager. The tour guides and tour managers that ACIS partners with in Egypt are amazing curators of thousands of
years of history, and more importantly, they know how to share appropriate amounts of information with groups and take extraordinary care of all of the travelers. They are proud of their country and its history and instill a respect and appreciation of it in travelers.

I was fortunate enough to have Haytham Hafez as a Tour Manager on the first trip, and I requested him for my most recent trip. This time he fulfilled the role of tour guide. He does a phenomenal job of weaving the history of all the places we visit together into an enticing story that does not conclude until the final day at the final location!

Some group leaders come to us interested in the itinerary but bearing concerns about safety. What would you say to a teacher who has those trepidations?  

Our group never felt unsafe or afraid anywhere we went in the country. Our group was provided with a security detail that was ever present everywhere we went in Egypt. We had a police escort from the airport to our hotel. The presence of the “tourism police” was evident and plainly visible in all locations we traveled. Our bags were scanned in the lobby of our hotel as well as every temple we entered.

Which aspect of the trip do you think your students enjoyed the most?

Of course the spectacular monuments and temples are a highlight, but my travelers also enjoyed learning about how papyrus was made, to see alabaster carved into beautiful keepsakes and stunning handmade carpets and rugs being created! All of these activities led to a deeper and truer appreciation of Egyptian culture.

Which aspects did you like best as a traveler and as an educator?

The Egypt trip is an outstanding opportunity to embrace being a traveler, learning about a new culture, and a vacationer relaxing as you sail down the beautiful Nile!

Describe some of the highlights in Egypt. What was your favorite activity?

Our tour guide did an outstanding job taking care of our group in the heat and overseeing our safety. He did a fantastic job providing appropriate and interesting amounts of information to help travelers learn and appreciate what we were seeing, without being overwhelmed. My travelers loved riding camels at the pyramids and sailing down the Nile the most.

How do you think this tour enriched your life and your students’ lives? 

For most people this is a once in a lifetime trip to a magical place they have only seen in books and movies. They will never forget riding camels while viewing the Great pyramid, sailing down the Nile viewing temples built 5,000 years ago without any modern technology, or entering the tombs of the great pharaohs of ancient Egypt in the Valley of the Kings! Most importantly, they will not forget the new friends they made, the stereotypes they broke down and the memories they shared.

How will it affect your teaching going forward?

I will use the pictures and information I learned to teach about ancient Egyptian history in my world history course. I will tell students in my classroom and people that I meet about this beautiful place and encourage them to go and see it for themselves. I am also proud to say that I took two former students on this trip, both of which are now teachers, and both of which will be leading their first trips with ACIS next summer.

Any fun stories you would like to share from the trip?

We learned when dealing with vendors selling things, saying “no thank you” is the beginning of a long conversation, and in the 120 degree heat you must “hydrate to stay great!” and “take your time but hurry up.” Before we would be presented with any shopping opportunity our tour guide would tell us on the bus that anything he picks up and says, “this is excellent” means that it was made in China. If he picks up an item and says “this is good” that means it is made in Egypt and good quality. So “good is better than excellent!” We left a phone in the Nile, sunglasses in the Nilometer, EarPods on the airplane, and our money everywhere, but most importantly we left our hearts in Egypt! None of this would have been possible without Haytham Hafez and Mostafa Tharwat.

Where would you like to go next?

I will be traveling to Barcelona and Paris next summer and then after that we will see!