Grace School 8th Grade Discovers Washington DC

By Camilla Garrison

Note from the Editor:

I wrote an entire article- pages long, on May 11 and 12, only to discover it all deleted. Sorry it’s a little late but some writers are not always in the mood for rewriting (and more uploading time for pictures!) Here’s the new version:

The eighth grade class of the Grace School had been waiting for their big Washington DC trip the whole year. At six thirty on Wednesday, May 7, the eight students, six parents, two teachers, two TAs, two therapists (OT & PT), one nurse and one principal arrived outside of school unprepared for the twelve hour ride ahead.

They passed through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland before arriving at the Holiday Inn in Virginia.

But it didn’t happen just like that, this is hours we’re talking about. The group stopped at many rest stops along the way and broke for lunch somewhere in Delaware with the choice of Burger King, Popeye’s or Panda Express. At that same rest stop, the 8th grade homeroom teacher and four of her students discovered an interesting alcove behind a Dunkin Donuts. Vending machines selling Pokemon cards, false eyelashes, candy and cotton candy flowers. Ms. Lamb, a cotton candy connoisseur had her own sugar spinning business- they just had to try it!

Well the experience was worth it, the machine itself played music and spun the candy through a window after the customer had put in their order, but the taste was of average sugar.

After much longer on the bus, they finally arrived at the hotel, where everyone settled into their rooms before heading down to the dining room, reserved for the Grace School, and had dinner. 

Three students awoke the next morning to their teacher greeting them from next door and got dressed before meeting the rest of the crew downstairs for a breakfast buffet. That first day was a long one though, and one with a lot of walking. All twenty-two of the tourists visited the Lincoln, Washington and Vietnam War memorials in the morning before stopping for lunch. Everyone received their personalized packed lunch bag with their order from the day before which the principal had packed and organized via Google Form. Sandwiches or salads, chips, fruits, vegetables, cookies and bottled water were all handed out and enjoyed before the group got back on the bus, heading to their next adventure. A tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (where they make money) was next up, and proved very interesting. The eighth graders and escorts could watch the actual money getting printed and stacked from a hallway with windows above the actual factory rooms. 

And then they went back to the hotel and went to bed…jk;) haha nope, they still had a whole other tour, walking up the very tiring hill to the Capitol Building! Everyone met up at the visitors center, looked at all the state statues and watched the introductory film before starting off on the tour. The tour was led by a guide who had a device around his neck to transmit his voice into headphones worn by everyone on the tour as long as they were in range. 

The capitol building was beautiful, the humongous rotunda was jaw-dropping and the statues and architecture were definitely selfie worthy. Though the amount of walking was a little tough, the tour was entertaining enough to forget about it.

On the tour transitioning between rooms Camilla Garrison, 14 caught a sneak peek down a closed corridor into the quarters of speaker of the house Mike Johnson. Before moving on and catching up with the rest of the group, she quickly snapped a picture with her mobile reporting device and not until later found out that congress had voted to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America right before she had been there- and sure enough, when she got on the bus later, there it was on Google Maps (and the news.)

Back at the hotel (for real now), the students sat down to do some journaling. The whole trip (and what they were supposed to be writing about) was based on three main points: Accessibility (for their Disability Rights Movement in Social Studies), Academic Connections (schooool), Eighth Grade memories and fun. The class worked on the journals when they got back to school as well.

The next day was museum day, before it started raining though, the sightseers stopped at the White House for pictures since they weren’t able to tour it due to new ID regulations. After pictures and a small walk, the Air and Space Museum was up first. The planes, spaceships and other exhibits were really cool, especially the interactive ones, like a vibrating motor simulator, a virtual paragliding simulator, and going inside the plane exhibit. Upstairs in space, there were awesome rooms like the Moon with cool lighting, and immersive projections of the Universe. Each group of two to three students and a teacher/staff member went off on their own to explore first and then visit the gift shop. 

Someone we met outside waiting in line ^

After lunch in the bus (it was raining), the students were put into new groups and set free into the Natural History Museum. Already tired from the entire previous museum, many breaks on benches along the halls were needed, but not before looking at the various exhibits like the Hope Diamond and other gemstones, human origins, ocean animals and dinosaurs. 

Even though they were fun and interesting, it was good to be back at the hotel after the tremendous amount of walking done at the museums. For their last night there, it was game night after dinner. The eighth graders and some teachers played a game of charades and had an overall good time!

After some nice showers, the kids went to sleep at a reasonable-ish time in order to prepare for another travel day.

It was fun, but also good to be home, as this was many of the young ones' first time away. The trip was not only an experience of making memories before graduation, but a trip to spend time with each other minus the schoolwork and school setting. The eighth graders saw the “fun” sides of teachers and the relaxed side of friends. They observed the accessibility of the “real world” which some students don’t usually need to think of, while others rely on ramps, elevators, accessible bathrooms and other accommodations every single day.