Travel Program

Beyond Borders

Sandia Prep-sponsored educational tours provide an incredible opportunity for students to explore the world with their peers and teachers, who serve as seasoned tour guides. Prep’s humanitarian efforts have included delivering equipment to foreign schools and providing aid to natural disaster-stricken areas in the U.S. and abroad.

Past Sandia Prep trips include:

  • Bhutan

  • China

  • Costa Rica

  • Cuba

  • Dominican Republic

  • Ecuador

  • England

  • France

  • Greece

  • Guatemala

  • Haiti

  • Ireland

  • Italy

  • Scotland

  • Japan

  • Mexico

  • New Orleans, La.

  • New York, N.Y.

  • Nicaragua

  • Peru

  • Spain

  • Washington, D.C

Prep group in Japan
Prep group in Japan
Large buddha statue in Japan
Prep group on Shinkyu bridge in Japan
Prep student with cosplay character
Fox statue in Japan
Japan10
Temple in Japan
Torii gates in Japan
Prep student poses with chaperone
Busy street in Japan
Colorful food in Japan
Students feeding small deer

For nearly 20 years, History Department Chairman Tom Gentry-Funk has led students, faculty, and parents on life-altering trips to Asia. This past summer, he led a large group on an action-packed trip to Japan.

They visited shrines, temple gardens, pagodas, arts museums and cosplay stores, sampled local fare at sushi restaurants and noodle shops, and so much more. You can view a detailed itinerary here.

Here, G-Funk reflects on his travels of nearly 20 years to Japan, Thailand, India, and Bhutan and how these experiences have shaped the lives of Prep students.

It’s a hot day in Kyoto.  The partly cloudy skies help, a little, as we make our way to the Path of Philosophy.  The verdant undergrowth of the hillside masks the tiny mosquitoes flying around the Lake Biwa canal we follow along the path.  As we reach the first of ten small bridges that cross the canal, we stop and read from Basho’s Journey to the Interior.  This collection of haiku helps us focus on the fact that we are walking paths that poets wandered 500 years ago.  We read the poem, reflect on its meaning and continue walking along this tree-lined path.

Looking back on past travels, days spent in Japan, Thailand, India, and Bhutan have sparked my imagination since 2006.  As someone who has read deeply in Asian History and Culture, these trips have helped me bring that love of Asia to students at Prep. 

My first trip to China, in 2006, was a rollercoaster ride of busses, hotels, and crowds unlike any I’d ever seen.  On one day in Tiananmen Square, we saw tens of thousands of people waiting in line to see Chairman Mao in his glass encased tomb. After that first trip, I knew that company tours offered by EF were not for me.  I really wanted students to gain a much more complex and direct engagement with people in the places we visit.

In 2010, I realized that vision by taking our first group to Thailand and Bhutan.  This trip, unlike any other, profoundly affected all of the travelers and me.  We were in awe of Bhutan and the people we met.  We had the time to visit schools, play with students, and create a relationship with a school in rural Bhutan, Tsangkhap School in the tiny village of Tsangkhap.  Over the next few years, we brought school supplies and played soccer and Frisbee with these students. 

I’ve been lucky enough to lead trips to Asia without using a company to manage the various aspects of a tour.  For example, on our most recent visit to Japan, Sutherland Jaramillo and I planned every aspect of the trip and allowed students and parents to explore on their own in Tokyo, Kamakura, Nikko, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka.  This unique blend of organized trip and independent travel is both experiential and challenging.  Keeping track of everyone in a city the size of Tokyo really does require close connection using cell phones.  Luckily, we’re now in a world in which communication is easy and students are comfortable with both using the technology and staying connected.

As I look back on past travels and experiences, the one thing that really stands out is the impact such travel has on students.  Seeing students find joy hearing Basho on the Path of Philosophy was one of those moments that will forever be etched on my memory.  It’s in these experiences that we grow as teachers, students, and parents.  More importantly, these adventures help shape the lives of these students and open their minds to ways of being and thinking that they have never done before.  I’ve been very lucky to be witness to these moments. 

You can read about all of G-Funk's adventures with Prep groups over the years here.