June 2, 2004
Monumental field trip
EJH ninth graders tour Washington, D.C. for four days
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Steeped in educational tourism, 56 students from Traverse City East Junior High explored the monuments, memorials and museums of Washington, D.C.
Traveling to the nation's capitol for four days in May, the ninth grade students wound up their year's focus on modern American Cultural Studies by visiting the real thing. After spending a year delving into the wars, leaders, lifestyles and decisions of the past century, the trip made the history books come alive for the students.
"We got to see a bunch of memorials of the wars that we studied, so that made it more real," said Laura Heinrizt. "We visited the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the World War II Memorial and it was historical."
Ceili Mateer noted that her grandpa served in Vietnam and see that memorial was moving.
"He had a bunch of high school friends killed in Vietnam," she said. "It was really cool to see everything people put down [in front of the wall], pictures, flowers, notes and poetry."
Students also visited Fords Theater and the Peterson House, where Abraham Lincoln died after being shot by John Wilkes Booth in the theater. They also visited the memorials for Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt as well as Mt. Vernon. They also stopped at the Iwo Jima Memorial and watched the solemn changing of the guard ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
"Everything looks so much better up close, they're so much larger," said Jack Begley of the many famous sites he had previously seen only in pictures.
Students also zipped through a number of Smithsonian museums - including Air and Space, Natural History and the National Gallery of Art - and also went through the Holocaust Museum.
"The Holocaust Museum really hit home," said Lynden Baesch. "Just to study it in class you don't get the full scope of things. There's just all these shoes at one point, there's so many of them."
The trip to Washington has been an annual event for ninth graders for the past ten years, said teacher Deb Germain. Students sign up on a first-come, first-served basis and every year the roster fills quickly.
Germain has led the trip for the past seven, and enjoys sharing the heart of the nation's government and seat of so much history with her students. Chaperones for the trip are usually American Cultural Studies teachers like herself, who help reinforce the learning for the students.
"We spend a couple of hours per site and the group, especially this year, was capable of handling the academic appreciation," Germain said. "They really appreciated the connections of what they saw."
Ninth grade student Melissa Engel's sister, Lauren, is now an intern for the House of Representatives. Lauren previously traveled to Washington with her then classmates at East Junior High School. She gave the current crop of ninth graders, including her sister, a guided tour of some public areas.
"She went through this program five years ago," said Germain. "She took us around and we also Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and John McCain on the Senate floor."
Germain said that Michigan's senior Senator, Carl Levin, always makes time to meet with the students, though this year's visit was quick because of Senate business.
The students also viewed the White House from Lafayette Park, visited the National Zoo and attended a dinner theater for a meal one night.
The students came back with memories to last a long time.
"I probably saw this more when I visited with my family because we stayed longer," Jackie Jessup noted. "But I had more fun going with my friends, because it makes it a lot more exciting. It made a big difference seeing these things in person, we could relate to them more."