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Fairfield students explore landmarks in nation’s capital
FAIRFIELD – A group of Fairfield middle school students just returned from the trip of a lifetime, a guided tour through the historic monuments and government buildings in the nation’s capital.
Twenty-eight students and 13 adults spent four days visiting sites in Washington, D.C., such as the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, the White House, the U.S. Capitol Building and many others.
Fairfield Middle School fifth-grade teacher Kristen McCready was the school sponsor, and said this is the first time the school has organized a trip to Washington, D.C. The school did not pay for the trip, and each family was responsible for raising funds for their child to go.
This trip was for students going into seventh and eighth grades. McCready said it was nice to show the kids buildings they had learned about in government class just a year or two before.
“In fifth grade, we teach about how government works and about the American Revolution,” McCready said. “To see those places up close, to say, ‘This is where the Senate and House meet,’ makes it more real.”
The students enjoyed visiting Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate. They got to visit a museum that showed how he lived and how he came to lead the Continental Army in the American Revolution. McCready said the students had some background knowledge about his life before the trip, but they understand him better now after seeing his home in person.
A company called World Classrooms, which leads tours of Washington, D.C., approached Fairfield Middle School Principal Laura Atwood to see if Fairfield students would like to go on a trip. Atwood contacted her staff to see if anyone would sponsor it, and McCready agreed. McCready said she helped organize the trip because she wanted her own children (she has twins in seventh grade) to experience the capital, and thought other children would enjoy the experience, too.
After two years of planning, everything had come together. A couple of World Classrooms’ tour guides met the students and parents in the middle school parking lot on July 26. Their bus left late at night, at 11:30 p.m., so they could board an early-morning flight from St. Louis to Baltimore and begin their adventure the next day, starting with the Washington Monument.
The two World Classroom guides were known as CEOs, “chief experience officers,” and they accompanied the group around the clock. McCready said they were a great resource, in addition to the local expert who told the group all about the monuments on their tour.
“Our CEOs made the trip fun,” McCready said. “Even on the bus rides that took us everywhere, they were playing music and creating this high-energy atmosphere. There was not any down time where the kids could say, ‘I’m bored.’”
The group made stops at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the U.S. Supreme Court Memorial, and the Vietnam, Korean and World War II Memorials. They visited National Harbor, a waterfront development on the Potomac River with a Ferris wheel and lots of shopping opportunities.
The tour company took care of all the expenses from transportation to hotels to meals. In fact, the hotel was one of the highlights for the kids, McCready said. They stayed at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor. The hotel had an arcade and a 1980s-themed milkshake bar, which entertained the students to no end.
The company supplied three meals a day. The students often ate a boxed lunch in a park and for dinner went to local restaurants that McCready described as “off the beaten path.”
“One evening, the CEOs and students went to a pizza and spaghetti parlor, while the adults went to a nice restaurant down the street called Martin’s,” she said. “All of the presidents have eaten at this restaurant since William Taft except two, Obama and Trump. It was a cool piece of history we got to experience.”
McCready is organizing another trip to Washington, D.C., next year for sixth-graders, open to both students and their parents. After next year, the school wants to get into a rotation of taking a trip every other year with seventh- and eighth-graders.
Those interested in participating in an upcoming trip can contact McCready at kristen.mccready@fairfieldsfuture.org.
Visiting the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., are Fairfield Middle School students, from left, Caroline VanPelt, Bailey Belzer, Janell Furgusson, Iris Lane, Isabel McCready and Lexi McGrath. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
Kristen McCready, center, and her twins Spencer McCready, left, and Isabel McCready visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
Fairfield Middle School students visit the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C. The statue depicts the famous scene of U.S. Marines raising the flag on the island of Iwo Jima in World War II. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
Fairfield Middle School students pose for a photo outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
Kristen McCready mimics the pose of the Rosie the Riveter statue in National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
Kristen McCready poses for a photo at the Lincoln Memorial during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., where Fairfield students spent a week touring the nation’s capital and learning about its history. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
Fairfield Middle School students stop in a park to eat a meal during their tour of Washington, D.C. The touring company World Classrooms provided Chick-fil-A boxed lunches for everyone. The students are, from left, Janell Furgusson, Isabel McCready, Iris Lane, Bailey Belzer, Caroline Van Pelt and Lexi McGrath. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
A group of Fairfield Middle School students and their chaperones visit the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Kristen McCready)
