On May 24, classes flooded into the library Great Room to experience a half an hour session with Google Expedition. Expedition teams from Google are currently traveling all over the world with a virtual reality experience built for a classroom, and their latest stop was Westwood High School.

While participating in the Google Expedition, teachers can lead their classes on a virtual reality field trip from a tablet, allowing them to point out highlights and read notes to their classes. Students participated in the experience by looking through a Google Cardboard viewer, which created a 3D effect as well as a 360 degree, panoramic view of spectacular sights.

“My teacher took us into Buckingham Palace and it felt so real that I actually had a few moments where I was certain I had somehow teleported to London,” Grace Liu ‘19 said. “The only thing that grounded me to reality was my teacher’s voice and my classmates’ loud ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs.’ Putting on the visor was like an instant teleportation to the other side of the world and I totally understand why scientists are diving deeper into the field of virtual reality. The experience was honestly amazing, and I’m excited to see virtual reality develop as a very likely form of entertainment in the future.”

Out of over 150 different expeditions, the virtual reality field trips allow for teachers and students to travel to places they could only dream of without having to leave school. Teachers can take students anywhere from Greece to Barcelona to underwater shipwrecks.

“The most interesting part had to be the under the sea expedition,” Audrey Lu ‘18 said. “Even though I had gone snorkeling before, I never dared to look down at the floor because then the goggles would get flooded with water, but being able to see the sea floor was really amazing.”

Overall, the Google Expeditions were a hit amongst students and faculty alike. The blending of learning with a virtual reality created a unique experience for people to enjoy while allowing them to experience different parts of the world.

“It’s the current reality,” Principal Laurelyn Arterbury said. “If we don’t incorporate technology then we aren’t giving you a 21st century education. Technology evolves every day and we have to find ways to incorporate it meaningfully.”