By Alison Echeverria-Soto ’26
Derby High School students had the opportunity to attend a school trip assembled by Italian teacher Hunter Sigona. It consisted of 10 days around Italy experiencing the culture, food, history, architecture, and fashion trends.
The idea of the trip was brought up in 2022 and was approved by the board of Education in Feb. 2023, with the planned date for April 2025. This way they could have lots of time to fundraise and use some grant money that Sigona wanted to spend on a trip of some kind. Since there wasn’t enough money for a large number of people, he thought a trip to Italy would be a better choice as you can divide the money among them. The cost of the trip was $4,200, but with fundraising it went down to $2,000-$3,600 for some people. They did a candle sale, two pasta dinners, snap raises, and a cookie sale. People who went on the trip became very consistent with fundraising.
Sigona said, “The major difficulty traveling with the kids was just ensuring we were all back to meeting points at the exact time; they were pretty good about keeping up and making sure everyone was with us. They were a really good group of kids to travel with.” Sigona was pleased not having to worry about the actual traveling aspect. The kids got to experience going to Venice, Pisa, Florence, Sienna, Rome, and Pompei, traveling on planes, boats, and coach buses to get to their destinations. Cassandra Silkoff 25’ was one of the students who got to experience these amazing destinations, “ I loved Sicily, I think it’s a beautiful place.” Multiple students said this was one of their favorite places to visit and would love to come back.
The students made so many memories, including buying jewelry, clothes, and what they were most proud of; a bubble head of Lebron James. They called it “le feet” when it broke and when it broke again,” le foot.” They took pictures with it everywhere and enjoyed their time with it. For Emma Hyder 25’ most memorable moment was the Leaning Tower of Pisa, “When we went to the top of the Leaning Tower it was pouring rain and because it’s marble, we kept slipping and falling; it was really fun.” The students enjoyed each moment no matter the weather, showing how they can make something fun even if it was silly.
The students enjoyed their trip to Italy and explored places where it might have been more expensive if they went by themselves. This trip became such a memorable moment for so many students, most of whom would love to come back and explore more of Italy.
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