By Chris Mortensen, 7/8 Principal GMS
New adventures bring hope and excitement for the future to our students every day, but these trails are littered with barriers and obstacles for many of them along this path. It is interesting when you reach that point in your career when those you have worked with as children start coming to talk to you about their children’s future adventures. I have had parents of students who have come to speak to me about this year’s Washington, D.C. trip and want their child to have the experience that they were able to enjoy during their 8th grade year. Our recent experiences, have in some cases, robbed our youth of some of those memories and it seems that these continue to present themselves. Students have lost many traditions of the regular sixth grade trip, the prom and graduation ceremonies, as well as the eighth grade Washington, D.C. trip over the past few years. These are hopes for the future that those students will not be able to gain back and count as experiences from their school years.
It has been two years since the Middle School has been able to make the trip from Greenville to the Nation’s Capital. In March 2020, we were told that things were going to change and we watched as time for the Washington, D.C. trip approached and opportunities slipped away for this trip to become a reality. The students, parents and staff alike were saddened at the news that the trip was off and money would be refunded. This was the first of many disappointments for the year.
In 2020 – 2021, the students were once again disappointed as we started the school year and discovered that we would not be able to begin the process of planning a trip. The hope stayed alive as the year progressed that there may be the possibility of still trying to get the trip in for the group, but this faded as we headed into the month of December and the ability grew slimmer and slimmer. Time was against the group as planning and setup opportunities passed. Parents, in hopes of finding a way to get the trip scheduled and going, met and discussed with administration to see if there was a way and anything that could be done to make the trip a possibility. Parents proposed going to the Board of Education with pleads to consider the trip. These parents saw the value in the trip as it tied to not only the academic curriculum, but to the social development of their children as well. The COVID impact made the trip impractical for the year and these hopes were lost once again. I still thank the parents and community members who see the educational and social benefits for our students participating in this trip for their greatest development. Many of these were those who had attended the trip in the past and knew all that it had to offer.
This year has started off with its own challenges and barriers for our families as they looked to the hope of a class trip to Washington, D.C. Hope sprang to life as we were given permission to set up the trip and begin the planning process for the year from our Superintendent, Mr. Fries and the Board of Education. This was not done casually, but with thoughtful consideration to the needs for protecting our students while providing them with a rich experience that broadens the students’ understanding of our country’s history and the history of the world around them. This trip offers a wealth of experiences in both of these arenas. As the planning process began, we were able to identify numerous challenges. There was a need for planning connected with COVID that needed extra staffing and response to concerns for dealing with issues that may arise while in our nation’s capital. The trip had communication between the company and the school about venues that were going to be limited or closed altogether to our students and we were saddened to see the loss of the Holocaust Museum. The biggest barrier was still yet to be identified and is one we still work to overcome. We had numerous parents and students come and identify that they desired to participate in the trip, but that due to loss of jobs, sickness and other hardships, the trip was not feasible monetarily. We asked that the parents stay on board, do what they could and we would look to find a method to get all students desiring to go on the trip. With the barriers identified, we took on the challenge and pursued avenues to get the trip together with our thoughts in tune with our military heroes of No man left behind, or student in this case.
We have found great support in these endeavors and continue to seek support for the remaining few. We had staff, as always willing to support students as they always do. They know the tie our trip has to the History class’s curriculum and support our trip and the students on it regularly. We had community members step up and create a Go Fund Me page to help these identified students in getting on the trip and they were able to bring together over $1,500.00 in these efforts. They did not ask for accolades, but to our students who were helped to make this trip possible, they are heroes who helped them see hope in the future. Between the school staff and the community that were involved, we were able to help in some manner twelve students in their efforts to go on this educational adventure. This is much higher than the need in the past where we might have anywhere from two to four students who had this need for support.
After all of these challenges and hurdles have been crossed, we continue to see hope for the return of the Washington, D.C trip. The company ultimately came back and stated that restrictions had been dropped for most of the venues we frequent on the trip. The Holocaust Museum was made available and we were able to get tickets to see the survivor platform and to hear a guest speaker who lived through these tragic events. Students are excited as we gear up to make our trip East in the spring. The challenges are far from over, however; and we continue to work with a few remaining students who face the challenges of financial burden to accompany us on the trip. We will work to make this a reality for all of our students and desire to say thank you once again to the parents, staff and community who have provided hope and the excitement of the experience of Washington, D.C. We guarantee that this will be an experience that they will remember for a lifetime with the knowledge that people stepped up to provide them with hope and encouragement for the future. For some, I know of no better way to say…Our heroes!