NSU faculty, students travel to Europe for WWII study tour

Tahlequah, Okla. A group of 18 Northeastern State University students, faculty and guests are scheduled to leave May 19 on a faculty-led WWII study tour of Europe.

Participants will start the 11-day journey in London before touring various WWII important sites, including war museums, Normandy beach and others across England, France, Belgium and Germany, before returning to the U.S.

Of our 14 students on tour, 12 signed up as part of a course this spring, said Amberdawn Moore, tour leader and instructor of history and social studies education at NSU. In the course, the students have been reading and discussing materials dealing with the origins of the Second World War, the Battle of Britain and what everyday life was like during the Blitz, the Normandy invasion and the fall of Berlin to the Soviets. In fact, our tour schedule actually recreates the western front from 1944-45.

The tour was pre-planned through Education First, an international learning company focused on cultural exchanges and breaking down the barriers of language, culture and geography. The NSU travelers will join 25 others from North Carolina, Texas and Iowa to participate in the tour.

Our students will cross the channel from England to France for the storming of the beaches at Normandy and then will move through Paris, on to the Battle of the Bulge, crossing the Rhine River to visit Cologne, and then finally visiting Berlin, before returning to the U.S., Moore said.

The students in the course are required to keep a travel journal while they are on tour and will have to submit copies of it, as well as a final summative paper, shortly after their return.

The group is scheduled to return May 29.

For more information on international learning experiences at NSU, visit the International Students website.