One-hundred and forty-five eighth grade students from Templeton Middle School (TMS) visited Washington, D.C. October 18-21 for an extended field trip. School staff members and parent volunteers chaperoned the annual trip which allows students to visit national monuments they study during their eighth grade year of school. Four TMS students had the honor and privilege of participating in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
“Students have the maturity to understand what they are seeing, yet the curiosity to want to learn more,” says Templeton Middle School Eighth Grade Social Studies Teacher Rhonda Watton who has been organizing and chaperoning the Washington, D.C. trip for more than a decade. She says this is the largest group that has ever been on the annual trip.
“Arlington Cemetery was a very interesting place and seeing all the graves was very surreal,” shares Templeton Middle School student Callie Lau, one of the students selected to take part in the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. “Laying the wreath was an experience I’ll never forget! It was important to me because I will never have that experience again and I felt such honor doing that,” adds Lau.
TMS students interested in taking part in the wreath-laying ceremony were asked to write an essay explaining why they should be chosen. Fifteen students wrote essays. Four were selected to take part in the ceremony. The students selected to participate were Owen Borger, Callie Lau, Emma Kutter and Addison Schwenke.
Kutter calls the experience a memorable one. “It really gave me a new perspective of how many people have actually served and made sacrifices for our country. I am incredibly grateful,” Kutter shares. “This was important to me because my grandfather served, and though I am very glad he’s still here, I am sympathetic for those who did not have the same outcome,” she adds.
The TMS trip to Washington, D.C. takes place in fall. The group traditionally spends three days in Washington, D.C. enjoying guided tours to national monuments and then spends one day in a nearby city such as Williamsburg, Virginia or Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Watton says the government shutdown did result in some small changes to the traditional field trip. The group was unable to take the Capitol Tour or get into the Smithsonian as originally planned.
“Despite some changes to the original itinerary, we were able to visit all of the war and presidential memorials, the Capitol Hill area, Arlington National Cemetery, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, International Spy Museum, Ford’s Theatre, The People’s House and the Gettysburg Battlefield, cyclorama and museum,” she explains. “For many students, this was the first trip on their own away from home, their first flight and for most, their first time in Washington, D.C.and Gettysburg. It is our hope that this is only a stepping stone for future travels!