Fun Field Trips: A Thing of the Past?

Remember the excitement the night before an elementary field trip? The jitters before you went to bed knowing you had your Marion Center T-Shirt laid out with your blue jeans ready to put on in the morning. Remember the air as you got out of the car with your family in the morning, eager to see your friends all grouped together, holding tight to their lunch boxes. Whether you were going to the zoo, the children’s museum, or Penns Cave, whole-class field trips were days we looked forward to, and still have memories of to this day.

Covid-19 caused there to be many conflicts in what a normal school year could like in high school and as we are beginning to go back to normal, field trips for entire graduating classes at once could be something we make a tradition.  As of now, the only time students go on trips is if they are part of organizations and clubs. In particular, robotics has had its fair share of trips to compete, FBLA travels to Kalahari annually for the State Leadership Workshops, and many other clubs make trips throughout the year.

While all of these trips are great and provide students with wonderful opportunities to experience the real world, learn about things they are passionate about, and ultimately create lasting memories, there are students that may not have the opportunity to join these clubs and classes to take these trips. One may argue that only having trips for students that are part of clubs would encourage students to join and participate in these organizations. However, that is not always the case. Students that attend ICTC are not able to participate in clubs because of scheduling conflicts. This leaves those students out of many of the many potential activities and trips they would be able to attend if they could join a club.

“I really love going to tech, I just wish I could participate in some of the things that other people get to do. I definitely would be joining clubs if I was able to. ”

Having just one trip a year for an entire graduating class at one time would be beneficial for many reasons. The first one is, we students just need a break sometimes. Day after day sitting in classrooms can really take a toll on mental health. Changing up the scenery for a day would really set students up for success. A day out of the classroom can act as a reset from all the heavy schoolwork and students can return to class ready to begin again. Most often, when students need a reset, they skip school. Adding a field trip would ultimately help in fixing the attendance issue that our school faces.

Furthermore, students would benefit from school trips because, for some families, trips may not be within their budget. Some students may not have the opportunity to explore different places on their own and school is the only place they have to do that. So when taking away trips at the high school level, it may take opportunities away from students.

Places like,the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History,  the Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum, are places that students here at Marion Center would find interesting and would only take a day to complete. In addition, taking a trip to a sporting event or competition as a spectator would also be a trip that most students would find to be exciting.

” I think it would be cool to have a just a day trip out of school” Miranda Leasure tells the Stinger News, ” Sometimes being at school all day just gets boring. ”

Undoubtedly, bringing back school trips would change school atmosphere and make it more enjoyable for students.