Summer Programs NMH Summer Session

New Zealand Summer Abroad

FOR STUDENTS ENTERING GRADES 10 to 12
JUNE 22 to JULY 27, 2008
$6,300.00

• Click here to see photographs of study abroad trips to New Zealand.

Places are currently available. Although there is no application deadline, complete materials should be submitted as soon as possible. Financial aid is no longer available.

Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime? NMHers who trek to the other side of the planet to New Zealand get a firsthand look at Maori life and culture; hike and explore the spectacular, unspoiled outdoors; and absorb works of literature from local authors.

New Zealand was first settled some 800 years ago by people from eastern Polynesia who regard Hawaiiki as their ancestral and spiritual homeland. These indigenous people have become known as Maori, with the Maori name for New Zealand being Aotearoa—The Land of the Long White Cloud. Meaningful European settlement of New Zealand began less than 200 years ago, but the impact on Maori tribal society as it had developed over 600 years was immediate and devastating. This program investigates how Maori and European cultures have clashed and accommodated over their 200 years of shared history.

The first week of the program is spent in the classroom at NMH in intensive study of history, literature, and culture. Maori and European authors such as Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera, and Catherine Mansfield are studied, as are significant films such as Whalerider, Utu, and The Piano.

The four-week travel program in New Zealand features visits to significant historic sites such as the Waitangi Treaty grounds, to places of great cultural importance such as Te Papa Tongarewa (the national museum) in the capital city of Wellington, and by special invitation to sacred meeting places of local Maori, known as marae. Optional eco-adventure activities that need to be funded individually and have signed parental permissions and liability waivers may include whale watching and swimming with dolphins at Kaikoura, jet boating at Taupo, and black water rafting at Waitomo.

This unique program is open to students who are eager to absorb the culture and history of Aotearoa at the grassroots level. Participants need to be in good physical condition, as outdoor activities such as day hiking, bicycling, and kayaking complement the experience of New Zealand’s natural world. Accommodations are comfortable but communal, using youth hostels, a convent, and the whare nui (big house) on different Maori marae. A homestay is included with the families of high school students in either Wellington or Hamilton. Participants are expected to help their hosts with community service projects and to assist with daily cooking and other chores.

The program is instructed and taught by Glenn Minshall, a New Zealander by birth who has led five previous study abroad programs to New Zealand and one to South Africa. Glenn is in his twelfth year at NMH, teaching photography and New Zealand history and instructing the outdoor team in the fall and spring terms. He will be assisted by Ann Neill, another current NMH faculty member. Ann is the director of NMH Outreach, as well as a house director with years of experience working with students in a variety of capacities.

The Aotearoa experience is a wonderful amalgam of academic, cultural, and adventure activities that Glenn has developed, discovered, and fine-tuned on previous travels to New Zealand. This is not a hotel.com tour—it is the real thing, a true adventure.