Thirteen eighth graders at Will Rogers Middle School got to step back in history in December and see what it was like in Colonial Days.
Lacey Dry, WRMS's assistant principal said the eighth graders who got to go on the trip were chosen through a system where the students had to write an essay, which was judged. Out of the 28 essays submitted, through interviews the judges narrowed it down to 13.
WRMS Principal Justin Chase said the group left Dec. 2 by bus and for the Washington, D.C. Area and arrived back Dec. 11.
This trip, he said, was paid for by the Abernathy Foundation. It was the fourth year WRMS eighth graders went on the trip.
Garrett said in Jamestown they learned about Capt. John Smith and how Jamestown got its name.
In Yorktown, they got to see a house with a hole in it that was put there by a cannon ball.
The students were treated to a fireworks show in Williamsburg. They also got to see a medicine shop, wig shop, courthouse and the governor's palace.
Dry said what was neat about Williamsburg is that the people were re-enacting life as it was in that era.
In Monticello, the students said what was neat was they got to see where the slaves worked.
At Arlington Cemetery, which Dry said was the hit of the trip with the students, they got to see the tomb of the unknown soldier, watch the change of guard, and tour the cemetery.
Garrett said they arrived in Washington, D.C. at night and got to tour the monuments. Some of the monuments they got to visit, he said, were the Lincoln memorial, Washington Monument, Korean War Memorial and Thomas Jefferson Memorial. While in the nation's capital they got to visit the White House. Bridgeman and Stout said, "It's so cool."
The students also toured the Capitol Building. There, they got to see the statue of Sequkoyah, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet.
Then they visited Mount Vernon.
While in Washington, D.C., the students said they rode on the subway. While coming up to the surface the escalator stopped so they had to walk the rest of the way. "It was a long way up," they said.
The students then visited Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Md. Before going to Boston to see the USS Constellation.
Then they went to Philadelphia, where they got to go inside Independence Hall. They also visited Benjamin Franklin's grave and the Liberty Bell.
The last stops on the tour before heading home were in Valley Forge and Gettysburg. |
