Learning from fellow Grinnellians makes for memorable alumni trip
December 19, 2024 — Diane Marty ’92 still recalls a class lesson from former Grinnell College history professor Tom Hietala.
“He made history come alive by challenging us to think about layering our perspectives with those who lived through it, such as learning through oral histories and first-hand experiences,” Marty says. “So to stand in Olympia Stadium – the site of the first Olympics – and put your foot on the marble line that has existed for 2,000 years takes your breath away. It really does.”
Diane and her husband, Kirk Marty ’90, were two of the 18 participants in the Grinnellian Adventures: Social Justice and the Olympic Movement trip. Marking the return of the alumni travel program, senior faculty members Will Freeman and Kesho Scott DSS ’21 led an immersive tour of ancient and modern Olympic sites in Germany and Greece from Oct. 18-29.
“The opportunity to be in a dedicated learning group once again was what I enjoyed most about the trip,” says Jon Gray ’73, a Grinnell College Trustee. “Grinnell was a time of group learning, where not only did you hear from the lecturer or the professor, but you also heard from each other. It was reminiscent of that experience.”
Freeman and Scott had previously led a student trip that explored the intersection of social justice and the Olympic movement throughout history. It was such a meaningful experience that Scott suggested a similar trip for alums, says Guinevere Natarelli, associate director of alumni and donor relations.
This set in motion the first excursion for the Grinnellian Adventures faculty-led alumni travel program. Trips are already being planned for the next couple of years including a Morocco journey with Freeman and Scott next October.
“I have known Dr. Scott from the time she first came to Grinnell, and I met Coach Freeman several years after he and Evelyn came to Grinnell,” Gray says. “It’s been refreshing to see how they came to know one another and how they came to recognize that each had a great deal to offer the other. What they do together in my opinion is far more impactful than what they are able to do separately. They brought a variety of perspectives and experiences that greatly added to the value of the trip.”
Freeman was Kirk Marty’s track coach, and their two families have stayed in touch over the years. “We hadn’t connected as much recently so it was so great to reconnect,” Marty says. “Will and Kesho’s involvement was a lot of what drove us to take the trip.”
The trip started in Berlin where alums had private guided tours of the Olympic Stadium – home of the 1936 Olympics – and The Topography of Terror, an indoor and outdoor history museum that provides a chronological overview of World War II and the Holocaust.
The next day the group traveled to Munich with a stop in Nuremburg where Nazi leaders were tried after the war at the Palace of Justice. In Munich, they visited the Olympic Park. The next day was a solemn trip to see the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial.
“Kesho and Will made plans knowing when there were heavy days that could require time for group reflection like on the on the way back from Dachau,” Natarelli says. “Almost everybody spoke on the bus. That really helped everybody think through things together and then get some more thoughts from Kesho and Will.”
Gray says Dachau was much more than just a tourist stop. “It was preserved and sanitized to some extent,” he says. “But to be there and to have some idea of the inhumane atrocities that took place there, I can’t say it was something I enjoyed, but it’s someone every freedom-loving person needs to see and know that it took place and find something in themselves to devote themselves to seeing that type of thing never happens again in any place across the world.”
During the Greece portion of the trip, the group spent a few days in Athens and had a side trip to Olympia, host of the Ancient Games. The group also got to experience site visits to ancient wonders: the Parthenon, the Acropolis, and the Temple of Nike.
While the attractions were tremendous, Natarelli says the group camaraderie in quieter moments was also significant.
“With the small size of the group, it was incredible watching the bonding and how lifelong friendships were being formed,” she says.
Diane agrees, noting how there was “something uniquely engaging and comfortable about traveling with people who you may not know but know they hold similar values and have common experiences in their background. We were excited to meet everyone.”
While she certainly learned a lot from the local guides, Scott, and Freeman, learning from the others on the trip really stood out to Diane.
“Grinnellians are lifelong learners so the idea of going on this trip was appealing not only to see the sites but also talk about the experiences with other Grinnellians,” she says. “It gives you a whole new experience for that space or place.”
Next up Morocco with more destinations to follow
Registration is now open for the next Grinnellian Adventures trip – a Northern Africa expedition Oct. 8-18, 2025 with Scott and Freeman. Participants on this epic tour will be immersed in the educational back stories of Morocco’s many cultural intersections with adventures in Morocco’s largest city, Casablanca, the small spiritual mountain village of Chefchaouen (The Blue City), and the imperial cities of 8th century Fez, 12th century Rabat, and 11th century Marrakesh.
“What I’m most excited about this trip is it’s an extension of Will and Kesho’s journeys courses in which they’re tracking indigenous peoples, movement, and colonization, and Morocco is such an epicenter of that where it is located in North Africa,” Natarelli says. “You had the influence of nomadic tribes. And then you had Europeans coming in, and people from Asia coming in. There was so much migration and that is a jumping board to so many conversations. Because that leads to religious diversity, ethnic diversity, cultural diversity, and trade business.”
This program is limited to a maximum of 18 alumni and their guests. It is being organized by Des Moines native John Shors, an internationally bestselling novelist and president of John Shors Travel.
“I think we hit on something with having fewer than 20 participants,” Natarelli says. “The small class size of a liberal arts college is something we are absolutely emulating on these trips. It’s a broad enough group that there is diversity but not so big that anyone is lost in the shuffle.”
Gray would recommend alumni consider the Morocco trip or other ones in the next few years.
“I would encourage my fellow alumni who recognize the value of travel and who want to be lifelong learners to seriously consider accompanying the College on one of these trips,” he says. “It’s certainly a way to build relationships with alumni of different generations.”
—by Jeremy Shapiro