Over the summer, students and teachers had the once in a lifetime chance to travel to different countries.

Sophomore Kim Auzat visited Panama in mid-June with her church.

“It was really cool, we saw a lot and it was a huge culture shock. It took a while to get used to, especially because I didn’t have my phone, but we spent a lot of time with the kids to make up for it,” Auzat said.

While there, Auzat helped build a windmill and a well to provide fresh water, and she also helped build a dormitory.

“It was definitely an experience to remember,” she said.

Sophomore Laney Tvrdik flew to Peru with 12 students and two teachers from Lafayette.

“It was a once in a lifetime experience, and there were lots of things to do that you wouldn’t be able to do anywhere else,” Tvrdik said. “We donated to a school, too, and visited a lot of cities and churches in Lima and went to Cusco to see Machu Picchu. It was fun to meet people from Lafayette who I didn’t know yet and explore things I never had done before.”

Students weren’t the only ones to travel out of the country. Language arts teacher David Choate went to Italy with  15 students, who were Lafayette graduates and their parents last June.

“It was pretty amazing. We went to Florence, Venice, Rome, and Pompeii,” Choate said. “I tried to soak in as much of the culture as I could.”

Language arts teacher Melissa Schumacher has a slightly different view on the trip.

“It wasn’t ideal because of the heat and humidity, but we did go to one of the predominant areas that inspired the art and literary Renaissance,” Schumacher said. “The emphasis was on churches, such as the Sistine Chapel.”