Spring Break 2023: New Orleans Trip

Students at the Mardi Gras World Visit

This spring break, OHS hosted a trip to New Orleans, thus continuing the tradition that began in 2019. The trip was composed of 12 OHSers from middle school, aged 11 to 14 years old, as well as three chaperones: Dr. Banks, Mr. Bennette, and Elitsa Somleva, the Academic Expeditions Tour Coordinator. With the rest of her team, Elitsa is responsible for putting together and organizing trips like these for countless schools. Academic Expeditions visits historical landmarks across the United States, including New York and Washington DC. Overall, the trip was a massive success, especially in expanding students’ knowledge about the historical significance of New Orleans and the legacy of the United States.

The idea behind this trip was first proposed by Dr. Banks, a history instructor at OHS. Dr. Banks, who's done a lot of work surrounding New Orleans, fell in love with the city. Meanwhile, Mr. Bennette’s own father is a native New Orleanian, and he grew up in New Orleans. Combining their passions for the history of New Orleans, the two have helped provide students with a glimpse into the history of slavery. New Orleans, as a city in the South, has a unique history and development surrounding slavery—for many, it’s an emotional landmark. As Mr. Bennette puts it, “New Orleans is unlike any other city in this country.” While planning the trip, Dr. Banks and Mr. Bennette stumbled upon various struggles. The primary issue, in terms of academics, was figuring out how to frame this information appropriately for middle schoolers. New Orleans holds a traumatic history, and Mr. Bennette expresses, “It’s about presenting heavy content and making it understandable.”

A typical day during the trip would be hectic—starting the morning at 7:30, students would eat breakfast in the hotel. By 8:30, they hit the road, whether it be walking or riding in a shuttle bus to go to landmarks. From there, they’d spend the day at different locations, fitting in at least three activities every day. At roughly 12:00 p.m., students had lunch at the location they were visiting. By the end of their long day touring the city, students arrived back at the hotel at 4:30 to 5:00. Since cuisine is integrated into New Orleans’ history and culture, they’d then eat at restaurants close to the hotel. Once dinner was over, which was approximately 7:00 to 8:00, depending on the amount of time they had left, students sometimes participated in less educational, fun activities. The most notable activity was bowling, where many students had a lot of fun with the potentially new experience!

Students touring the Whitney Plantation

Despite every part of the trip being impactful, Mr. Bennette noted that the following locales were highlights of the trip: the Whitney Plantation, Preservation Hall, and the National World War II Museum. Though they visited two plantations, the Whitney Plantation was particularly remarkable because it is the first plantation that focuses on the experiences of the enslaved. There, they discussed topics such as the passage over the Atlantic, the process of being placed up for auction, conditions working in sugar cane fields, and more. The Whitney Plantation also features recreations of slave cottages and other aspects of the enslaved experience. Comparing this plantation with others, which are a more “Hollywoodized version of that time period,” Mr. Bennette explains, “Traditionally, in Louisiana, and I would say the South in general, plantations have been set up and designed for tourists—they really focus on what they call the ‘Gone With the Wind’ approach, where you get to see the period dress of the white slave owners, and the riches that were a result of the plantation.”

This year, rather than visiting the Oak Alley, students visited the Laura Plantation. Oak Alley is a plantation with a more traditional approach; it focuses on the experience of white owners. On the other hand, the Laura Plantation adds complexity, talking about the owner’s history, interracial relationships, generational issues, the uniqueness of French culture (since French women could open property), and more. The Laura plantation was founded by Guillaume Duparc, and Mr. Bennette regards the story of their family history as reading “like a soap opera.” Laura Locul, one of the descendants of Duparc, is the namesake of the plantation, and her diaries were used to tell the family’s story on the tour. Additionally, students visited Preservation Hall, a club dedicated to the preservation of New Orleanian jazz music. Students were able to sit in on a private concert with their band, as well as ask questions. This was an incredibly exclusive experience, since Preservation Hall is regarded as a famous area with concerts nearly every day of the year, and its tickets are in high demand. Lastly, students visited the World War II Museum which showcased artifacts, interviews, discussions, and presentations. All in all, these one-of-a-kind experiences helped students broaden the scope of their understanding from beyond the text in a book.

Main building of the Laura Plantation

In general, this trip was immensely valuable in teaching the “hidden” history of the United States. In the past, teaching the history of slavery in Louisiana had been one-dimensional. Mr. Bennette states, “We tend to have a greater focus on the slave experience now… we’re much more willing to have that conversation, though it’s a difficult one.” He went on to note that in the ’70s, conversations about the slave experience “really didn’t happen that much.” All the same, Mr. Bennette attests to the overarching theme of history: history and its mistakes are bound to repeat themselves if not studied and learned from. As he puts it, “It’s really difficult to come to terms or at least to learn more about this part of history, but I think it’s incredibly important to do so.” To describe the trip in one word, Mr. Bennette concludes that it was “complicated,” and that he’s delighted to be part of this learning process. For students, they’ve gained a more personal understanding of the origin and complexity of our country—whether it be slavery, economics, or morality. As Aanya (’27) states, “This trip was a really valuable learning experience that I will carry with me for years to come.” In the end, it’s evident that the trip served its true purpose—to promote that learning doesn’t just end here, and students should keep pushing to learn more about these issues.