The Park School of Buffalo Blog

Dear Park Community, 

This year, I’ve committed to writing a series of letters that focus on the distinctive value of a Park education. In this last letter of the school year, I am going to recap our 2025 Immersion experiences and talk about why the Immersion program is not just a class trip, but rather an academic program and a deep learning experience that is unique to Park in many ways. 

Immersion is a biannual, co-curricular Park academic class that engages students in a year-long study centered on a particular topic or geographical area of interest to them. It culminates in a weeklong experience in May and provides students opportunities to further learn and explore through firsthand experience what they have spent a year researching and studying. Offerings provide students with the chance to expand their knowledge in a particular discipline and may be large or small in scale ranging from on-campus experiences and local day trips to stateside and international excursions. 

Offerings begin in Grade 7, and include a local and domestic travel option. This year, a group of students in Grades 7 and 8 spent the year studying:

• The ecosystem of the Florida Everglades, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. Snorkeling, kayaking through the mangroves, exploring the natural beauty and wildlife of the area and observing endangered species provided the students opportunities to experientially ground what they learned in class within the context of the actual Everglades environment.

• Maritime culture, hand tools, and craftsmanship for building and shaping their own wooden canoe paddle, which would later become a free pass to wooden boat rentals at Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park in Buffalo. Learning outcomes for this Immersion experience included an increased proficiency in STEM principles, an increased sense of teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills,  as well as an increased proficiency in craftsmanship and the responsible use of hand and power tools.      

In the Upper School, a variety of academic Immersion programs were offered, including:

• Studying the rich history, culture, and vibrant art scene of Denmark. 

• The diverse landscape, abundant wildlife, and geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park. Our students recorded seeing 80 different wildlife species on their trip, and were granted opportunities to explore science, history, and ecology firsthand. 

• Enhancing various academic disciplines and cultivating a further love for the arts through immersive experiences in New York City and on Broadway. Students were provided access to live performances, behind-the-scenes insights, and engaging workshops throughout the year. 

• A comprehensive preparation phase for service and culture learning in the Dominican Republic. This eight-day international practicum involved repairing a home for a family, guided group reflections, and building relationships with the host community. The Dominican Republic Immersion provided a challenging but significantly  rewarding experience of personal growth for those involved. 

• A rich focus on learning about Costa Rica's most spectacular and bio-diverse areas. There were opportunities to have firsthand experience and knowledge of the landscape and wildlife, as well as the local culture. In addition, students who were taking Spanish at Park had the opportunity to practice their conversational skills. 

• Participating in a wilderness emergency preparedness class, learning the history of local trails and parks, and other natural wonders of Western New York through several hikes and outdoor experiences led by the Earth Spirit faculty.

While the main focus of Immersion at Park is an academic one, traveling together or experiencing something new is also really fun!  Many Park alumni report that their Immersion experiences were transformational in their development as thinkers and doers because it was their first taste of independence and their first glimpse of the larger world of possibility. Immersion places students  in unfamiliar settings where they must navigate daily life, solve problems, and make decisions without relying heavily on their parents. These experiences build independence for our students because:

• Students must make real-time choices about things like managing money, or perhaps ordering food in another language.

• Away from their usual support systems, students are challenged to manage their needs — from packing appropriately to handling differences from the daily norm.

• At times, unexpected issues require quick thinking, and students become more resourceful and resilient when things don’t go as planned.

• Students often need to keep track of schedules, belongings, and group responsibilities, and this is an opportunity to practice being organized, punctual, and accountable.

• Traveling often involves group activities, shared responsibilities, and collective decision-making, and students end up learning to practice cooperation, compromise, and handling group dynamics - essential skills for life.

As the Head of School and as an educator, I love the Immersion program because it intensely and critically combines in one experience the academic and social components of our school. It is an opportunity for our students to be both adventurously studious and studiously adventurous. To be, in other words, pioneers!

Warmly,

Lisa M. Conrad

Head of School