Justin Trinh-Halperin
Justin Trinh-Halperin is a 6th grade Math and Science teacher at Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California. He adds travel into program/curriculum by managing and leading the Annual 7th Grade trip to Japan (from which Trinh-Halperin just returned), an 8th Grade trip to Peru, and is working on adding hiking/camping to all three Middle School grade levels with the 8th grade class camping at Yosemite National Park in 2027.
Why are you passionate about student travel?
I’m passionate about student travel because I’ve seen how it changes young people. Middle school is such a pivotal time, they’re still curious, impressionable, and just starting to understand the world beyond their own neighborhoods. Travel opens their mind to how small this vast planet actually is and how we are all connected.
There’s something magical about watching a student experience a place they’ve only read about; standing where history happened, hearing new languages, trying unfamiliar foods. You can see their minds expanding in real time.
What is a major highlight from any of your student travel experiences?
It’s difficult to choose just one highlight from the 18 various trips I have led. The impact of travel affects learners in so many different ways. My highlights don’t usually happen on the trips, but when a former learner seeks me out years later to share that they will be studying abroad or traveling during a gap year… and that passion was all kicked off from their 7th or 8th grade trip.
What is the greatest lesson you or your students have learned from your trips?
Regardless of how well you think you are prepared for a trip or an experience, you will never be fully prepared. Every trip I take with students I find and develop new hacks to make the process smoother, more enjoyable for my learners, and more educational. You never know everything about a location you are traveling to regardless of how many times you’ve been there.
How do you try to tie your travel experiences back into the classroom?
I try to tie travel experiences back into the classroom by using them as real-world extensions of what we’re learning. Whether it’s history, literature, geography, or even social studies, travel gives students context, they’re no longer just learning about a place, they’ve now been there. That makes everything more tangible and meaningful. It’s important to frontload the experiences so the learners know what they will be seeing ahead of time. Being a math and science teacher I reach out to the Language Arts and History team to align their curriculum and pacing with what the student travelers will be seeing. I also provide them an overview of the day’s adventure each morning while on tour.
After the tour, I or my colleagues, l reference our experience during lessons: “Remember the architecture used by the Incas…?” or “Think about how it felt when you saw the original painting of…?” It helps them connect emotionally to the material and makes abstract concepts come alive.
I also encourage reflection—journaling, discussions, or projects that ask students to think critically about what they saw, how it connects to our curriculum, and how it might’ve changed their perspective.
Aside from academics, I try to bring back the executive functioning skills they practiced; problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and highlight how those skills are just as important in the classroom as they were on the trip.
From the nominator:
What qualities make this nominee, both as an educator and travel leader, deserving of this award?
He is very knowledgeable and loves to travel with and without learners. Trinh-Halperin is a great planner and manager and has done various trips for many of his 25-plus years of teaching at his previous schools, as well as for the past four years at Bullis Charter School. Justin deserves the Traveling Teacher of the Year because when you think of traveling with Middle School age learners, you think of Justin. He enjoys adding this informal education to all of our learners, because it allows for chaperones and other school staff and teachers to see learners in a new light and perspective that you don’t get to see in the formal education setting of the classroom.
Photo courtesy of Justin Trinh-Halperin.
