This year, students in US History and Government will take a field trip hosted by the history department. These trips are an annual occurrence at RCHS.
The junior class will visit Jamestown. This trip was planned and will be chaperoned by History teacher Ms. Valerie Clay. Seniors will explore Washington D.C. this year. Ms. Atlanta Watts, a history teacher, has planned out and will chaperone the senior trip. Both trips will take place on Friday Oct. 13.
Ms. Watts, who is also a 2005 Graduate from RCHS, has hosted trips for several years.
“I graduated in 2005,” said Watts, “we went to D.C. my senior year. We’ve done trips every year since then except for the COVID year.”
Each trip will provide students unique learning experiences outside of the classroom. The class trips align with the curriculum for each history department class. Since all juniors take a form of American History, their trip is to Jamestown. Similarly, all seniors take a Government course, so their trip is to D.C.
Both the Jamestown and D.C. trips are all-day. The buses will depart from RCHS in the morning, and will return on the same night. For the D.C. trip, students will arrive by 9 AM. Students will then be able to see the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial. Then, the students will bus over to the Capitol Building and get a tour. After the Capitol tour, students will eat lunch, and will have the choice to either go to the Smithsonian museum or explore the National Mall.
The bus headed to Jamestown will head out from RCHS at 5:45 AM. In the morning, students will tour Jamestown. After the tour, students will break for lunch, and then tour the American Revolution Museum. On the way home, the bus will stop for dinner at the Short Pump mall in Richmond.
Ms. Watts has hopes that students will create a memorable experience during these trips.
“I hope that students will see real life examples of what they’ve been learning in the classroom.” Said Watts. “These trips provide an excellent opportunity to learn new things and have fun with friends.”
Although these trips are open to anyone in the Junior or Senior classes, spots are limited. Each trip is capped at 125-160 students, and each trip has three buses reserved for the students. Due to the cost of buses, each student has to pay $70 to reserve a seat. If you are interested in attending one of these trips, stay alert for more information from the history department. Both Mrs. Watts and Ms. Clay have information available.
