Melissa Taylor, AP World History teacher — a course more commonly known to students as WHAP — is hosting a European trip that is open to all students. There are seven spots left. The trip will run from June 14 to June 23, 2016 and will be traveling to Dublin, London, and Paris.
This is not the first time Taylor has traveled somewhere. Taylor is a member of the Dallas World Affairs Council, a local organization that brings international awareness and cross-cultural understanding to the North Texas community, which includes students and teachers.
The Dallas World Affairs Council partnered with the United Arab Emirates’ Embassy to launch a study tour for 12 North Texas educators. Taylor was accepted into this program and was able to go to United Arab Emirates from March 7, 2015 for a week. While Taylor was in United Arab Emirates, she visited schools, rode the fastest roller coaster in the world at Ferrari World, rode a camel, learned about Hedayah (an anti-terrorist organization combating terrorism in their own backyard), visited Masdar City ( a completely carbon free city), explorered Sheikh Zayed Mosque (the second largest mosque in the world), shopped at the Dubai Mall(the largest mall in the world), vistied the Burj al Arab(the famous hotel shaped like a sail), traveled to the Burj Khalifa(the largest building in the world), and had dinner with the prince.
“He welcomed us into his own home and talked with us candidly about his country and his people. He’s a regular guy! He travels the subway with everyone else and drives around by himself with no security detail,” Taylor commented in an e-mail interview.
Despite the United Arab Emirates being far from home, Taylor felt very safe going there.
“One of the things that really hit me was how safe I felt in this country,” Taylor wrote. “Before I left, I must admit I felt apprehensive about traveling to a Middle Eastern country, because of my gender and ethnicity, but I felt safer walking around downtown Dubai in the middle of the night than I would in downtown Dallas.”
For information on Taylor’s upcoming European trip, contact her at Melissa.Taylor@kellerisd.net.