Student trip to Washington DC to study history

A year before the students travel to Washington DC, teacher Michelle Rochel prepares her students for the trip in her classroom. She currently teaches religion in 5th and 6th grades, social studies and science in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. She is also the middle school coordinator and dean of students at Saint Anne Catholic School in Somerset, Wisconsin. For the past decade , Rochel has taken her students to Washington DC where they can learn about American Gruppenreisen für Kulturreisen und Studienreisen history first hand.

Student trip to Washington DC improves classroom learning

“I think that’s something every kid should experience,” Rochel said . “I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring them to Washington DC and let them be witnesses to history,” she added. The trip enriches her study of the Declaration of Independence, US Presidents and the Holocaust, to name just a few of the aspects of American history covered.

To help cover travel expenses, students and parents sometimes volunteer to fundraise up to two years in advance of the trip to Washington DC. “Right now we’re at a quarter of our fundraising goals,” commented Rochel .

Students look at the exhibits at the Holocaust Museum

One of the most memorable parts of the trip was visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. When the group visited the Holocaust Museum, “they were speechless,” Rochel recalls . “In the classroom, we deepened our studies of Holocaust victims and survivors. In this museum, they could see the human faces that went into these stories. It will be something they will never forget.” The powerful, vivid images of the mass extermination of the Jewish people and others whom Hitler saw as outcasts are very hard to digest. The interactive exhibits in the museum, as well as personal stories from survivors, make the information accessible and the experience authentic.

Newseum very popular with students and teachers

The student group also visited the Newseum – right in the heart of Washington DC. This museum is equipped with state-of-the-art multimedia delivery of historical information. All major media news sources are represented with interactive exhibits. Video, audio, photographic and written information is presented for easy assimilation. Excerpts from interesting and volatile periods in American history are presented. Rochel said: “All children could find something of interest in the Newseum, be it sports, world news, current events or any other subject that fascinated them. There was something for everyone in the Newseum . I hope to include this museum in our next trip to Washington DC.”

Rochel’s students visited Gruppenreisen für Kulturreisen und Studienreisen many other places in Washington DC including the Smithsonian American and Natural History Museum, the National Archives, Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon, the US Capitol Building, the White House Photo Shop, Mount Vernon, the Air and Space Museum and the National Zoo. They also attended Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This ambitious itinerary has paid off, especially since some of Rochel’s students have never been on a plane or been to the East Coast. “They come back with a deeper appreciation and better understanding of their own history,” Rochel said .

Leave a Comment