AHT-S
The AHT -South Tour (often referred to as AHT-S) is The Cheshire YMCA’s Developmental Travel Program for Monadnock Regional Middle School.
AHT-S is one of the 5 American Heritage Tours that the Cheshire YMCA offers each year. This tour consists of students from the above mentioned school. We have teachers and school staff participate in this tour as Group Leaders or Bus Coordinators. Many have been traveling for 5 or more years and look forward to reaching out to a new group of students every year. This tour travels later in the students 8th grade year and they often form bonds and friendships that last a lifetime.
What is the American Heritage Tour?
History on wheels…Developmental Travel is an opportunity for area youth to take what they are learning in 8th grade Social Studies classes and make it come alive. Instead of simply learning about how a bill becomes a law in a classroom, we take them to the Capitol Building, White House and Supreme Court and show them where the process takes place. By taking students out of the classroom and “on-site”, we can enhance the learning that goes on in schools.
What makes the Cheshire YMCA different from other groups that visit these historical sites is the word “developmental” in the program’s title. For more than 30 years, over 25,000 area youth have grown in mind, body and spirit through the two Developmental Travel programs the Cheshire YMCA offers.Little things like student chores, a dress code, and high behavioral expectations help develop strong character within each individual and leadership amongst the group. Students learn how to work well as part of a team, responsibility for their actions, and a feeling of self worth.
Through the work of a volunteer staff, many of them teachers, that cares deeply about the students, the students learn that if they work hard towards a goal, they will be successful. Students gain knowledge, not just historical information, which will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
The American Heritage Tour takes students to all of the historical sites in Philadelphia, PA, Washington, DC, Gettysburg, PA. By the end of the six-day tour, students will have full understanding of what it means to be an American citizen. With the high quality volunteer staff we bring on tour with us, students may visit the Vietnam Memorial with a staff member who fought in that war.
Developmental Travel is a very unique program both within the community as well as within the YMCA movement and has become a part of two generations in area households.