Guest Contributor:
Don Stinson, Director of Bands, Joliet Central High School, Joliet, IL
A student trip purpose answers one very important question: what are we trying to accomplish by taking this trip?
An effective purpose describes what students will experience, what your program is trying to accomplish, and why travel is the right way to accomplish it. Write it down before planning begins, and you’ll have something to evaluate future decisions against — the itinerary, performances, use of time, cost, and communication to families.
(The folks at Bob Rogers Travel call this “starting with why” and it truly does make all the difference in your planning process.)
Without a written purpose, a trip can start to drift. Activities get added because they’re available, not because they’re optimal. Days fill up because nobody wants to say no. You might get lucky and end up with a good trip — but it won’t necessarily be the trip your program needed.
Start With What Your Program Needs
The best starting point is not the trip – it’s your program.
Start by asking what your program is missing or ready for. Maybe your students have never performed outside your district. Maybe your seniors need a shared experience before they graduate.
Maybe your program culture needs rebuilding after a rough year, and travel could support that work in ways the normal routine would not. That was true, at one point, for my program. Preparing for our trip performances gave my students something specific to work toward, and the trip gave them a chance to see that work pay off.
A few questions can help you find your trip’s purpose:
- What can students do on this trip that they can’t do at home?
- Who is this trip really for — the whole program, this year’s seniors, or one section?
- What have you been trying to build, and how would travel move that forward?
The answer is usually more specific than “the kids would love it,” and specific is what you need. A vague purpose won’t help much when you have to choose between two performance opportunities or decide what belongs on the itinerary three months from now.
There’s no single right answer. A program focused on performance growth and one focused on giving seniors a “last hurrah” experience can both have a strong reason to travel, as long as the purpose matches what that program needs.
Write Your Purpose Down
Once you know the need, put it in writing. A useful purpose statement does three things:
- It describes the student experience or opportunity the trip creates.
- It connects that experience to a specific program goal.
- It explains why travel — not a local concert, video, or guest clinician — is the right way to get there.
The experience tells you what students will do. The program goal explains why it matters. And the travel piece answers the obvious question: why do we need to leave home to accomplish this?
Here’s what that might look like for two different programs.
A band director whose students have never performed for clinicians outside their own conference might write:
“This trip gives our band the chance to perform at a festival, receive feedback from adjudicators outside our district, and measure our progress against expectations beyond our own program.”
A choir or orchestra director closing out a themed program year might write:
“This trip gives our seniors a culminating performance in a new setting and for an audience beyond our school community, connected to the repertoire and growth that have defined their time in the program.”
They’re very different, but both work because each purpose is specific to what that program needs.
Test It Before You Plan
Give your purpose statement to a colleague who doesn’t know the trip. Then give them two possible activities and ask which one better supports the purpose. If the statement gives them enough information to explain their choice, you’re getting specific enough to plan with.
Check for the Missing Piece
Weak purpose statements are often missing one of the three pieces listed above.
“It’ll be fun” describes part of the experience, but it doesn’t explain what the trip is supposed to accomplish for the program.
“We do this every year” leans on tradition instead of looking at what your current students and program need.
“They deserve a reward” may explain why you want to do something for the students, but it still doesn’t explain what you want them to gain from traveling.
If your statement feels thin, find the missing piece. That usually tells you what needs to be clarified.
Use Your Purpose to Make Decisions
Once you’ve defined your purpose, put it to good use. From here on, filter each choice with one question: does this help us realize the purpose we wrote down?
For one of our band trips to New York, part of our purpose was:
“This trip will give our students the chance to perform for and make music with students outside our own program. That shared performance experience will give us a common goal to work toward, strengthen our ensemble, and provide an experience we couldn’t recreate within our normal school routine.”
That helped us make an actual itinerary decision. I wanted our students to perform for and with another local group. Our Bob Rogers Travel consultant found an opportunity for us on the way to NYC.
Our students visited a high school near New York, and both bands performed their selections for each other. We then did a quick sight-read together and had a fun group dinner. It ended up being one of the highlights of the trip — and it directly supported what we had set out to accomplish.
Some choices support the purpose directly. Protect those. Others are simply necessary to make the trip work — transportation, lodging, accessibility, meals. And some are optional.
When time or money gets tight, the purpose helps you decide which optional pieces matter most.
Here are some other ways to use your purpose to make decisions:
Itinerary. If your purpose centers on outside adjudication, a second performance with useful feedback supports it directly. An additional sightseeing stop may not. Both can be worthwhile parts of a trip, but only one is tied directly to the reason you’re traveling.
Time. A packed day is not the same as a good one. If your purpose is a culminating performance, the hours before it may be better used for rest and warm-up than another stop.
Cost. When the number comes back higher than expected, look first at the optional pieces that contribute least to the purpose. That’s more useful than trimming a little from everything without considering what matters most.
Before You Add Another Activity
When someone suggests another stop or activity after the itinerary is taking shape, ask what it changes. Does it replace something, extend the day, or fit naturally into travel time that’s already there? Then go back to the purpose: does the added experience contribute enough to the trip to make it worth including?
Keep Using Your Purpose
Put your purpose statement somewhere you’ll see during planning. When you’re deciding between options later, go back to the purpose you identified at the beginning.
Revisit it when something big changes. If the budget tightens or a performance opportunity falls through, check whether the purpose still holds. Sometimes the plan needs to change. Sometimes the trip itself has changed enough that you need to reconsider what you’re trying to accomplish.
A clear purpose gives you something to return to throughout the planning process. When a new opportunity, cost, or decision comes up, ask the same question: does this help us accomplish what we set out to do?
In the years I’ve worked with Bob Rogers Travel, my purpose has always taken center stage and guided the trip planning process. The team at BRT knows how to create performance travel experiences that are personal and purposeful, so I always return home pleased with the impact of our trip. Learn more about BRT’s approach here.
This post is part of a “How-To” series, brought to you by BRT and our extended family of music educators. For more how-tos, visit our Travel Notes blog.
