How HISD Prepares 950 Students for Domestic, International Travel

As part of HISD’s New Education System (NES) curriculum, 950 middle school students across the district are preparing to take a fully funded domestic or international trip. This initiative, known as Dyad Travel, aims to foster a new generation of global citizens and provide students with worldview opportunities. 

This year, students are going to Nashville, Washington, D.C., Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. But before they board a plane, HISD spends months preparing both students and families through cultural immersion activities, travel training, and safety preparation intended to build confidence and reduce anxiety around travel.

“Watching students return with greater confidence, expanded perspectives, and the belief that they can achieve things they once thought were impossible is incredibly powerful,” Executive Director of Student Experiences Erin Carroll said. “These experiences do more than take students to new places. They help students see new possibilities for their future, and there is no way to measure the long term impact of that."

The Dyad Program 

The dyad program was launched at NES schools in 2023 to “close the experience gap” for students whose families may face barriers to accessing extracurricular activities and travel opportunities. Aside from travel, the dyad program provides daily enrichment opportunities within the school day outside of electives—including gardening, music, and fitness—and after-school programming like the G-Unity Business Lab. 

“If you teach a man how to fish, he can eat for the rest of his life instead of just giving him that fish. That's ultimately what dyad is,” Director of Student Experiences Dr. Patrice Allen said. 

NES seventh and eighth graders may earn the opportunity to attend a three-day trip to a U.S. city, while eligible eighth graders may also qualify for a five-day international trip. Eligibility requirements include: 

• Attend at least 92% of school days
• Avoid out-of-school suspensions 
• Obtain a passport to travel internationally
• Complete an application, including a Community Impact and Action Plan where they outline how they will apply their experience to positively impact their school, community, and future goals

Carroll said through their application, students are encouraged to create meaningful opportunities for impact within their communities, building on the investment and opportunities provided through these transformative experiences.

Fleming Middle’s Assistant Principal Jasmine Haynes—who has chaperoned several trips—said that students earn the opportunity to travel through their hard work and dedication in the classroom and “lean into learning” throughout the program. 

“Don’t doubt your child deserves this trip,” she said.

Preparing the Students  

For months, students undergo immersive experiences that provide insight into travel, airport procedures, food, and the culture. 

For a kickoff event, students visited Houston’s Lone Star Flight Museum to learn about aircrafts and enter simulated flight experiences. In addition to providing travel insight, the museum exhibitions also informed students about career opportunities in aviation. 

“Going to dyad travel is like helping us go around the world,” Henry Middle School student Arielle Conerly said at the event. “It's helping us see more perspectives and be more open-minded.”

The Lone Star Flight Museum provides a simulated flight experiences before students board the airplane to their dyad travel destination.

 

This May, HISD Nutrition Services Chef Brittany Jones prepared a tasting to familiarize students with their destination’s cuisines, which she has done for the past three years. She reminds students that “whatever your favorite foods are, you had to have tried those foods for the very first time at some point in your life.” 

“It is very important for them to get this exposure so that when they get over there, they actually know the customs and the different foods that they're going to eat,” she said. 

Chef Brittany Jones prepared students for the cuisines they will encounter in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. 

 

Parent Communication

To ease the anxiety that comes with student travel—especially for first-time travelers—Carroll said that transparency and constant communication remains a priority for dyad travel. 

During the trip, parents should expect photo and message updates via the ParentSquare platform, ensuring parents can see their students are safe and enjoying their experience in real-time. Additionally, group messaging for parents, chaperones, campus teams, and district staff ensures everyone can ask questions or receive support throughout the trip.”

HISD partners with the American Council of International Studies (ACIS) for international travel and EF Explore America for domestic travel.  Prior to departure, families are encouraged to download the corresponding travel apps to access important trip information and real-time updates, including flight details, hotel accommodations, and daily itineraries. 

To support student safety and preparedness, Carroll implemented a monthly training program focused on health, safety, travel readiness, communication, and student supervision to ensure students chaperones are prepared with communication expectations and emergency protocols to support students throughout the travel experience. 

Marshall Middle School parent Vioeta Medrano was initially nervous to send her children to Nashville and the Dominican Republic, but said she was eased after receiving more information from program officials. 

“I was excited that she was going to be able to go out on her own,” Medrano said. “[The presentations] just gave me assurance that she was going to be okay.”

What are the Benefits? 

Allen said she noticed that students often return from these trips with improved social skills from interacting with students from their school and across the district and more motivation to study harder in school after discovering more passions abroad. 

While in Nashville, Marshall Middle School seventh grader Philly Angeles learned about American history from visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Museum of Civil Rights. While he wasn’t familiar with the students going on the trip from his school, he made new friends.

“I thought I was going to go alone, but I ended up making friends from other schools,” he said. 

 

Medrano’s daughter, a designer, broke through a creative block after being inspired by Nashville’s architecture and culture.

“You’ll see different designs. You’ll see different clothing. You’ll see different cultures,” Medrano told her daughter. “She had her phone and she was just messaging me saying, ‘I love it.’”

Another Marshall Middle School parent, Sofia Martinez, is preparing for her youngest son to travel to the Washington, D.C, but this won’t be his first time traveling. His seven older siblings, all graduates of Northside High School, have gone on to successful careers across the country—among them a business executive and scientist. 

Martinez said every time her children were offered an excursion through school, she would encourage them to not be afraid of the unknown as it would open doors to a better future.

“I always told my kids, if you get the opportunity to travel, take it,” she said. “There is no need to be afraid.” 

A ‘High-Impact’ Itinerary

ACIS Director of Educational Travel Partnerships Tricia Holda said the program prioritizes immersion over tourism by intentionally creating travel experiences that help students connect with history and culture on a deeper level than they could by simply visiting monuments or learning facts in a classroom.

"A lot of people think of [the Dominican Republic] as a place for vacation, resorts, and just beach,” she said during the May 7 pre-departure meeting at Marshall High School. “This program is none of that except for island culture. It is going to be an amazing cultural experience."

While students tour the colonial cityscape, natural parks, and Caribbean beaches that the country is famous for, the itinerary also includes “high-impact” activities with partnership organizations, including: 

• Participating in coral reef rehabilitation and mangrove reforestation to combat coastal erosion with nonprofit Fundación Verde Profundo
• Visiting a school built by Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico‑Haitianas, an organization which advocates for the rights of historically marginalized Haitian descendants in the Dominican Republic, for a peer exchange experience 

Haynes, Fleming’s Assistant Principal, said she has witnessed students shift to a “holistic view” of their communities beyond their Houston neighborhoods after experiencing what life is like on the other side of the world. 

“Now they’re not just looking for what’s best for me or what’s best for their neighbor. They’re looking for what's best for the world,” Haynes said.