Chelsea Burden, who has 10 years of experience as a social studies teacher at Van Buren High School, and Mike Procyk, who has 11 years of experience as the high school and middle school band director, are both preparing for trips to Europe that will enhance their professional skills and enrich their classrooms.
While the cost of both of these summer trips will be covered by outside sources, meaning there will be no cost to our school district, Burden and Procyk will be able to use these experiences to build thinkers, connections, and experiences, the three tenets of the Van Buren Local School District mission statement, when they return to their classrooms at the conclusion of their trips.
Burden’s trip will take place first as she will be taking part in monthly online classes starting this February to prepare to head to Poland from July 13-20, 2025. She will tour the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Warsaw, and Krakow to learn first-hand about the inhumane brutalities which took place during the Holocaust. She has taught a semester-long Holocaust class at Van Buren for the last eight years, so she will be able to build on her already extensive knowledge through this experience.
After applying last August to participate in the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship, offered in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati, Burden had to go through an additional Zoom interview and faced questions from three interviewers before learning she was one of 40 teachers from across the country who had been accepted into the fellowship.
”This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go with other teachers to experience the magnitude of the atrocities and bring that knowledge back to my students to make the future world a better place,” Burden said.
While she will be heading to Europe this summer, Procyk is preparing to head across the Atlantic Ocean in June 2026 with student musicians from across Ohio.
Retired BGSU Director of Bands Dr. Bruce Moss, who will be directing the Ohio Musicians Abroad tour and conducting the honor band, invited Procyk to fill one of the staff positions as a chaperone and section leader. BGSU’s Dr. Mark Munson, Director of Choral Activities, will conduct the honor choir.
Prior to two weeks of touring and performing in well-known European cities like Paris, France, Munich, Germany, and Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, Procyk will help lead student participants through a three-day pre-tour rehearsal camp at BGSU to help the students gel musically.
Van Buren students and those from any other high school in Ohio interested in participating in either the band or choir can connect with Procyk at mprocyk@vbschools.net regarding nominations for the trip, and those who are nominated will complete applications to become eligible for acceptance.
Procyk said, “I’ve always wanted to travel to Europe and have known about these trips for a while, so I am excited to have this opportunity to support student musicians.”
We are excited to see the impact these teacher experiences will have on our students, and we appreciate Ms. Burden and Mr. Procyk modeling lifelong learning for students to encourage them to continue growing through their own experiences.
To learn more about what is happening at Van Buren Local Schools, visit our website at vbschools.net.
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