Pictured left-right: Land Neudecker, Maggie Applegate, Sawyer Hessler, Matilda Hessler, Audrey Stevenson and Nathan Graves jump together in front of the United States Capital Building in Washington D.C. during the Ovando school trip in April. "It was a once in a lifetime trip and it was awesome to get to do it as a class," Stevenson said.
L-R: Audrey Stevenson, Maggie Applegate, Sawyer Hessler, Matilda Hessler and Land Neudecker together in front of the Lincoln Memorial statue in Washington D.C..
"It was a great experience to visit our nation's Capital as a class,"said Matilda Hessler, Ovando School sixth grader.
Ovando School fifth-eighth graders took an eight-day trip to Washington D.C. April 11-18. The trip was choreographed by fifth-eighth grade teacher Nathan Graves. The group was supervised by Andrea Tougas, Ovando School's supervising teacher, Dena Hooker, School Business manager and Graves.
The group of five students and three adults stayed in an airbnb and rented a van to tour the city.
"This was a unique way to see real life places/events that we have read about in textbooks," said Sawyer Hessler, eighth grade.
Months leading up to the trip students researched and talked about the most important and coolest things in DC, places were crossed out through the year, leaving a rough schedule. The 25 stops included the Cherry Blossom Parade and Festival, a Major League Baseball game, Arlington Cemetery, tours of the Pentagon and Capitol and 11 museums.
"My favorite part was a tour of Capitol City Grille in Baltimore," said Graves. "They gave us a tour of their kitchen and dry-aged room. The kids also tried fresh oysters and calamari for the first time."
Montana's elected officials were home for Montana Work Week and the students were unable to meet with any of them. Hooker attended meetings for her position as Missoula Electric Cooperative District 6 representative as well.
"Since American history Civil War to Present was our Social Studies rotation this year, most of our trip's lesson plans directly correlated to the places we went and things we saw," said Graves. "The majority of the lesson plans came in the classroom, that way they could recognize and connect to things we have talked about on the tour."
Favorite stops were; Arlington Cemetery, the Capitol Building, going to the top of the Washington Monument, Ford's Theater, and the MLB game. The last day was spent at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD.
"The two biggest challenges were narrowing down to what we wanted to see and getting reservations and tickets," said Graves. "The top complaint was 'too much walking.' Unfortunately, we were not able to stay for a month and see every museum, monument, and memorial."
"It was great to see Washington DC through the students' eyes," said Hooker, who shared her experience with Washington D.C. logistics from visits through Missoula Electric Co-op. "It's always refreshing to get a different perspective."
Ovando has taken this trip only two previous times. This was the first trip in seven years in part due to the pandemic. Fifth-eighth graders went this time and the current first-fourth graders will go next in four years, barring unforeseen circumstances like pandemics.
A DC fund was created before the first Ovando DC trip, it grows every year and a portion of school fundraising throughout the year goes into the fund.
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