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Eighth Graders Explore the Nation’s Capital
On Tuesday, April 12, St. Luke’s eighth-grade students embarked on a field trip to Washington, D.C., where they spent three days exploring our nation’s capital. As described below, this trip kicked off the students' memorial projects in history class.
Middle School History Teachers Erin Hupal and Sarah Westerberg-Egan share more about the field trip and upcoming project:
The Washington D.C. trip was amazing. It was great to travel with the students and bring history to life outside the classroom walls. The D.C. experience launched our Washington, D.C. Memorial Project, which tasks students with designing a monument for an underrepresented person, group, or event in American history. When designing their own memorial, students will use the knowledge they gained exploring the actual D.C. monuments, which included analyzing and identifying the memorials’ elements and understanding their historical significance. Students recorded their observations and wonderings and sketched in a field journal, which they can refer to when working on their projects.
In addition to visiting national memorials of great leaders, including Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson, students visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center National Air and Space Museum, Museum of African American History and Culture, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Students also enjoyed the D.C. classic whodunit, Shear Madness, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“I loved visiting the museums. It gave me the opportunity to dive deeper into topics we’ve explored the last two years and better understand these moments in history,” shared a student on the trip. “It was cool to see artifacts in real life.”
Another commented, “Instead of just seeing pictures on the internet when researching or seeing memorials in movies and on TV, we got to see them in real life, and they were mind-blowing! They were bigger and more beautiful than I imagined!”
Joining us on the trip were faculty chaperones Middle School Science Department Chair Susan Bralower, Physical Education Teacher Pat Raffaele, Middle School History Department Chair Phil Cox, Middle School Dean of Students Katie Mersky, 8th Grade English Teacher Ty Wieland, and Assistant Head of Middle School Mark Chuhta joined students on the field trip.
For photos from the Washington, D.C. trip, click here.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
