BEIJING, May 7 -- The students of the British International School's Puxi campus have just returned from their first major International Award expedition. Thirty boys and girls, led by Nic Tanner - a veteran of more than 120 such IA expeditions around the globe - spent a week, not in their classrooms, but in the forests of northern Thailand.

    Here they completed their Bronze Award arduous journey. This consisted of a 15-kilometer hill-trek through the mountain jungle, a 44km mountain-bike ride, a five-hour river journey by canoe and several shorter 10km hikes in the heat and humidity. One highlight came towards the end of all this hard work with a half-day elephant ride through the local rivers to camp.

    Throughout the expedition, the participants had to carry all their own personal equipment - including tents, sleeping bags, first-aid and food supplies - every bit of it essential to camp out in this challenging environment. All of the participants passed this section of the award, and did so with flying colors.

    Tanner was particularly pleased with the attitude and good-natured approach of the students.

    "Of all the expeditions I have organized," he said, "this has certainly been one of the most enjoyable. Every students was a real credit to the school and it was good fun just to spend time with them in circumstances very different from those in the classroom. I must also say a big thank you to those teachers who came with us and who worked so hard to make the trip such an outstanding success."

    THE International Award is in its first year at BISS and there are currently 34 students undertaking bronze, 17 silver and one gold. There will be an award ceremony later in the school year, and it is intended that there will be many similar expeditions in the future.

    THE head of the BISS secondary school, Michael Westman, who took time out of his busy schedule to spend a day hiking with the group, was definitely impressed.    

    "I would like to see every BISS student taking advantage of opportunities like this," he said. "The International Award is highly regarded all over the world, and I know that the students on this expedition would support me in saying that they will remember the experience for the rest of their lives."

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)