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Ridgeview Middle School 8th Grade Trip · May 19-21, 1999
Mr. Jiles · 8th Grade American History · Wooster, Ohio
Welcome | Pictures | Schedule | Next Year | Thank You

Welcome, families! This spring was the sixth year I've taken our eighth graders to Washington, and the first year there's been a web page to show for it. Forty-four students, four parent chaperones, one charter bus, a bright orange T-shirt apiece, and three very full days.

The packing list asked every student to bring a disposable camera, and in June I asked for copies of the best prints. I scanned a handful on the library's scanner after school. There were far more good ones than I could fit, and the rest are in a binder in my classroom for anyone who wants to look.

About the orange shirts: every student wore the trip shirt every day. It isn't a fashion statement. On a weekday in May the Mall has a hundred schools on it, and I can count orange from two hundred yards.

About names: I don't put students' names on the Internet, so you won't find any on this page. If your son or daughter is in a picture and you'd rather they weren't, send me a note and it comes down, no questions asked.
 THE PICTURES  (click a small picture to see it full size)
Students in orange shirts on the charter bus, with the Washington Monument out the window
Wed., about noon. Seven hours on the bus and coming in along the Mall. Out the right-hand windows: the Monument in its blue wrapping. That's me up front, going over the rules one more time.		 Three boys pretending to pinch the top of the Washington Monument
Wed. afternoon. The Washington Monument is wrapped top to bottom in scaffolding and blue mesh while the stone is repaired. Three of our boys tried to pinch the top. Close. Mrs. Langer supervising.
The class picture on the Capitol steps
Thurs., 8:30 a.m. The class picture on the Capitol steps. I'm on the left; Mr. Shellenbarger and Mr. O'Connor are on the right. Mrs. Langer took it with her own 35mm camera, which is why it's sharper than the rest, and Mrs. Arriola held everybody's bags.		 A student making a pencil rubbing of a name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Thurs. At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial one of our students found his great-uncle's name, killed in 1968, and made a pencil rubbing to take home to his grandmother. I held the other end of the paper. The whole group went quiet here without anyone asking.
Two girls and a chaperone looking up at airplanes hanging in the Air and Space Museum
Thurs. The Air and Space Museum: the Spirit of St. Louis and the orange Bell X-1, the first plane to fly faster than sound, hanging overhead. The pink blob in the corner is a thumb. Disposable cameras.		 Three boys eating pizza on a hotel bed while the teacher does bed check in the doorway
Thurs., 10:30 p.m. Bed check at the hotel in Arlington. The pizza arrived at 9:30. By 10:30 there was one slice left, and I'm told it didn't make it to 10:31.
Three girls on the Lincoln Memorial steps above the Reflecting Pool
Fri. morning. The Lincoln Memorial steps, first thing. Behind them, the Reflecting Pool and, way down at the far end, the Monument in its scaffolding. Mrs. Langer is on the left with the map.		 Every picture here came from a student's disposable camera except the class picture. Thank you for sharing them!
 HOW THE THREE DAYS WENT

Day What we did
Wednesday, May 19 5:00 a.m. bus leaves the school lot (everyone was there by 4:40, a record). Rest stops on the turnpike. On the Mall about noon for sack lunches, then the monuments on foot all afternoon. Check in at the hotel in Arlington, Virginia, dinner, lights out.
Thursday, May 20 8:30 a.m. class picture on the Capitol steps, then a tour of the Capitol arranged through our congressman's office. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Air and Space Museum until closing. Pizza at the hotel, bed check 10:30 p.m.
Friday, May 21 The Lincoln Memorial first thing. Arlington National Cemetery: the Kennedy graves and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Bus home after lunch, dinner on the road, back in Wooster just before 11:00 p.m.

 FOR NEXT YEAR'S EIGHTH GRADE FAMILIES New!

The 2000 trip is planned for Wednesday, May 17, through Friday, May 19, 2000. The parent meeting is Tuesday, October 12, at 7:00 p.m. in the school library. Please come. I'll bring the binder.

  • Cost. This year it was $285, which covered the bus, two nights at the hotel (four to a room), the T-shirt and most meals. Most students raised most of it selling pizza kits, and the kit sale starts again in November.
  • Shoes. We walk miles. Broken-in sneakers, not new ones.
  • A disposable camera. Or two. Film is cheaper at home than on the Mall.
  • Spending money. Twenty or thirty dollars is plenty.
  • For the bus. A pillow and a sack lunch for the first day. Portable CD players are fine, but they're the owner's responsibility.
 THANK YOU

To our chaperones, Pamela Langer, Liz Arriola, Michael Shellenbarger and Dwayne O'Connor, who walked every mile and counted heads at every stop. To our bus driver, who got us through Washington traffic twice and never once raised his voice. To the families who ran the pizza kit sale out of their garages. And to forty-four eighth graders, who made their teacher proud in the capital of the United States.

Visitors since June 14, 1999:
002146

Questions about the trip? [email protected]
Last updated Tuesday, September 14, 1999