Discovery Week: A Unique Tradition For Unique Experiences

Discovery Week is an experiential learning program that has taken place at Seoul Foreign School for decades. No one knows exactly when it began (some alumni may know it as “Mini Week”), but it has become a key part of the school’s emphasis on service, awareness, and community. Every spring, high school students and teacher chaperones go on a variety of trips locally and abroad, to broaden their horizons and enhance the learning they do in the classroom.

Some trips focus on learning a new skill, some on cultural awareness. Some trips are all about service learning - fulfilling students’ educational needs by connecting them to opportunities to help those around them. In every case, students come together with people they would usually never meet. This can include their own classmates, since each trip deliberately mixes grade levels. Trip assignment is based partly on student interest, but ultimately students are encouraged to stray from their comfort zone.

This is all made possible in part by The Gate, a professional learning center dedicated to service, which brings its experience organizing workshops and conferences to Discovery Week. After a three year hiatus due to Covid-19, getting Discovery Week up and running again was no small task. In 2023, the first year back, The Gate conducted interviews with every single potential host, on top of organizing a massive travel agenda beyond anything SFS has done since before the pandemic. This frees teachers to develop inquiry questions to guide student learning during the trip, and to plan activities accordingly.

Some popular trips include volunteering at a school in Bali. The school relies on volunteers to serve special needs children, as well as the nearby village. SFS Students contribute in a number of ways, from teaching English, to rolling up their sleeves and maintaining the school’s sustainable farm. The school has a long standing relationship with SFS, and some hosts have been involved in Discovery Week for more than a decade, such as an orphanage in Mongolia, and a children’s ministry in the Philippines. About half the trips take place inside Korea, but still give students plenty of opportunity to learn skills, serve the community, and discover something new about themselves.

For a closer look at Discovery Week 2024, check out Seoul Foreign School’s instagram account, where teachers and students visually documented their journeys.