(West Plains) – A number of students and sponsors of Missouri State University-West Plains’ Darr Honors Program took a 10-day trip to Germany, Austria, northern Italy and Switzerland as part of a study abroad experience in May.
Below are some of the photos provided by MSU-West Plains.
A visit to Venice, Italy, was among the stops current and former members of Missouri State University-West Plains’ William and Virginia Darr Honors Program made during their 10-day Honors Abroad experience in May. Known for its unique architecture and history, as well as its many canals, Venice today is a crowded city of shops and stores catering to an average of 89,000 tourists every day. Here, one of Venice’s 69,000 citizens provides a gondola ride on a small canal. (Photo provided)
With "The Sound Of Music" in their minds, these members of the Missouri State University-West Plains William and Virginia Darr Honors Program re-enact a scene from the 1965 Academy Award-winning musical in Salzburg, Austria’s Mirabell Gardens during a stop on their 10-day tour of eastern Europe. The scene being re-enacted features Julie Andrews as “Maria” and the actors portraying the Von Trapp children performing “Do-Re-Mi” in various locations in the park. Standing in front of the park’s fountain are, from left, Kori Lancaster, West Plains; Mariah Gregg, Thayer; Emilie Joice, West Plains; and Anna Cantrell, Conway. Salzburg got its name from nearby salt mines and a fortress (“burg”), which can be seen in the distance in the photo. (Photo provided)
Nine current and former students at Missouri State University-West Plains traveled in May with their sponsors on a 10-day tour of Germany, Austria, northern Italy and Switzerland as part of the William and Virginia Darr Honors Program Honors Abroad experience. Here, the group stands in front of the fountain at the University of Munich in Germany near the spot where two college students were arrested and later executed by the Nazis for distributing anti-Nazi newsletters in the 1940s. From left, Drew Joice, Columbia; Josh Howell, West Plains; Josh Dye, Bakersfield; Chance See and Macee Smith, both of Thayer; Anna Cantrell, Conway; Mariah Gregg, Thayer; and Kori Lancaster, sponsor Dennis Lancaster, and Emilie Joice, all of West Plains. Rita Lancaster, West Plains, also served as a sponsor. (Photo provided)
The international monument, an iron sculpture designed by Yugoslavian artist Nandor Glid, greets visitors to the Dachau Concentration Camp memorial site just outside Munich, Germany. The camp, established March 22, 1933, just weeks after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of the Third Reich, was one of the first stops made by Missouri State University-West Plains students and their sponsors during a 10-day tour of Germany, Austria, northern Italy and Switzerland in late May. The camp served as a model for all concentration camps later established by the Nazis and eventually housed over 200,000 prisoners during its 12 years of operation. A total of 41,500 prisoners were killed within its walls. Glid, himself, spent time in a forced labor camp during World War II and designed the sculpture to resemble the barbed wire that surrounded such camps, as well as the people it imprisoned and killed. The Missouri State-West Plains students were told that all grade school students attending public school in Germany’s Bavarian state are required to visit one of the nation’s concentration camps and memorial sites during their grade school years. Dachau was liberated by American troops on April 29, 1945, and the site was developed into a memorial in 1965. (Photo provided)
Mariah Gregg, Thayer, a sophomore at Missouri State University-West Plains, looks over the Austrian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Germany, from the mountain top on which Adolph Hitler’s Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest) resort home sits. Given to Hitler as a present for his 50th birthday by the Nazi Party, the house rarely saw its owner. Today, it is owned by a charitable trust and serves as a restaurant for tourists. The visit to the “Eagle’s Nest” was one of the stops made by Gregg and other Missouri State University-West Plains students as part of the group’s 10-day Honors Abroad experience in May in eastern Europe. (Photo provided)