World Strides program offers deeper learning for students

Experience is a powerful teacher. Physically visiting a museum or historical site can help students recall facts deeper than if they were to merely read about them in a text book. The World Strides program offered through Kimball High School is one that allows students to experience the history of America by visiting our nation’s capital.

A study done by the University of Arkansas examined what kind of benefits students experience from going on field trips. About 10,000 students were surveyed, and, according to the study, students who attended the museum field trip recalled a great deal of the tour details. Eighty-eight percent of the children who attended were not only able to recall the names of paintings, but also the reason they were culturally relevant. The children surveyed also demonstrated critical thinking, historical empathy, tolerance, and an overall interest in visiting art museums in the future. The study stated that students who lived in a rural area benefited immensely from the field trip concerning critical thinking and historical empathy.

Kimball High School students have access to the World Strides as a way to expand their horizons. This program is one that allows students to experience the nation’s capital up close and personal. Principal Hanks, of Kimball High School, explained that no one has yet to take advantage of the early bird sign-up. It could be that $1,600 price tag that makes parents shy away from this opportunity. However, Hanks explains that the school does what they can to help the students afford to go on the trip.

“The kids they do fundraisers for it. They’ll start at the end of this school year and start again at the beginning of next school year, and they’ll do fundraisers up until they actually go on the trip. They also make payments so it’s not one big payment for the trip all at once,” Hanks said.

However, the fundraising won’t stop as soon as the students hit their ideal mark. No, the students will keep fundraising up until their trip and then they get some money back before they go on the trip. This allows for the students to perhaps purchase souvenirs and other items while on their adventure.

“The kids that hit the fundraising hard they raise a about a thousand toward their trip, so with the fundraising and the payment arrangement it makes the program quite affordable,” Hanks said.

The trip entails the students along with their adult sponsors, usually a parent or teacher, flying to Washington D.C. out of Denver International Airport. Once in D.C., they “hit the ground running” and will see several sites that day alone. The next two days are packed with tours and visits to historical and notable places. Monuments, memorials, and museums are all on schedule. The group is assigned a tour guide and bus driver by the World Strides program which allows travel between sites to be seamless and eliminates the fear of getting lost. They are also provided with a World Strides attendant that stays in the hotel to make sure that everything runs smoothly. On the fourth day of the trip the students will see a few more notable sites before getting on a plane and returning to the Denver International Airport, after which they arrive home to Kimball at about eleven at night.

This particular program was chosen by Hanks due to the fact that it allowed the students to see the maximum amount of sites and limited classroom time on the actual trip.

“There is plenty of time to sit in a classroom once we get back. This really allows them to get out and see everything. It’s an experience you can’t replicate in a text book,” Hanks said.

It was a memorable experience for the students as they noted at the Board of Education meeting they attended in order to speak about their experience. The students that attended to speak about their trip were seniors Shelby Vogel, Jake Reader, Brianna Jones, and Brooke Hager. Two juniors also went on the trip, Jessica Hanks and Michael Ferguson.

The students at the board of education meeting recalled the different places they visited and spoke highly of their trip. Each student took turns highlighting different aspects of their D.C. exploration. They spoke for about 45 minutes about everything they had seen. It was clear the impact that it had made with all of the students.

“I really liked Arlington National Cemetery, and the changing of the guard, I guess because you read about it, but to actually see it is pretty cool,” said Reader.

The students recalled facts that they learned and their enthusiasm brought smiles to everyone in the room. The appreciation that the students had for the experience was further evidence that field trips to historical sites really do benefit those involved. Hanks has noticed what a wonderful experience this is and has decided to make some adjustments to the program.

“Before the program has always been open to juniors and seniors, but after thinking about it and seeing over the years how the kids really enjoy it. I think we are wanting to open it up to the sophomores as well,” Hanks said.

Six, is the largest number of students to have gone on that trip at once, to date. Hanks hopes to increase that number, not only for educational benefits but for cost benefits as well. Usually the smaller groups of students are combined to form one large group that tour the city together. However, if Kimball were to have enough students go to form their own tour group, thirty or so students, that would decrease the cost of the trip for the students by about one hundred fifty dollars.

Students are not the only ones who benefit from this trip. Parents are also welcome to attend as a sponsor with the students. The cost for a parent to attend however is a bit higher than a student’s cost, 1800 dollars being the price for an adult.

Students can be signed up for the trip during the school year. The sooner they do sign up the sooner they can start working on fundraising to put a dent in the overall cost of the trip.

“It’s really worthwhile for the students to be there. It’s a unique experience,” Hanks said