Saturday, April 30, 2011

Good Morning,

Today,  is it.  This is the day we’re packing up from our adventure and heading home.  It came so fast, went quickly while we were here, and now we’re filled with memories of the time we shared.  We have laughed, learned, and loved.  It is an experience that I have been blessed to share with these 20 students and 9 chaperone, and 1 other teacher.

I am proud of these 20 students, not only for the speeches they shared along the trip, but also for the fellowship they shared with one another.  Relationships were strengthened and new ones began or were rekindled.  To be able to see this has been a joy for me, to share in this experience with you.  This is what I have seen from you all: courage in speeches, a student give up his seat for a classmate on the metro, respect given to one another and to the adults, and luv2luv shown to one another.

I must also thank the chaperones for all you did on this trip.  You were a fundamental part of the successes and bonding that we shared.  Thank you for all you did for us!

And most importantly, thank you to Mrs. Flatt.  Your ability to meticulously plan and keep us on schedule is so appreciated!  YOU have made this trip possible for us all.

As a final thought, I would like all who were on this trip to remember….”We’re not the only ones….on the airplane, on the metro, on the sidewalk, in the museum, in the restaurant, on the escalator, in the store, in the hotel, one the bus (but we really were), in D.C.

Peace,

Miss Minier

Saturday, May 30, 2011

The morning of our last day here in the DC area!  What a fantastic week.  I cannot thank our good Lord enough for the wonderful weather we had.  With the threat of rain and severe storms all week, we were so blessed to have missed it all.  We had just a very small amount of rain on Thursday, and that was it!  God is good.

The students have been awesome.  I saw them bond together as a family.  I saw them work out a few kinks.  I saw them laugh, have fun, be silly, be somber, realize what a great country we live in, and so much more.  Thirty-one students and chaperones made up this group, and what a great group it was.  Parents and students bonded as well.  We indeed are a family!

Parents, thank you for entrusting us to take your children to Washington, DC.  We feel truly blessed.

Blessings to each and everyone of you!

Dawn

Friday, April 29, 2011…from the chaperones

Well, here we are…the last night in Washington DC with the Trinity eighth graders.  As we all are gathered in the lobby together, wrapping up all of our final blogging, journaling, devotions, conversations, and pictures, we cannot help but to look around the room and soak it all in. These children, or should we say teenagers, have grown in so many ways and we find ourselves wanting to freeze this moment in time and keep it forever. Who would have known that this moment could be broken by a farting skunk? Oh how we love these kids.

Today was a day of mixed emotions. The Jefferson Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, an actual spy adventure (let’s just pray the country never needs our spy skills), the Smithonian American Art Museum, the Aerospace Museum, a very lengthy dinner at Fuddruckers, an interesting group of people exercising their right of free speech on the corner, and our final Metro ride complete with an informative speech by Mr. Mramor. For the record, his score was an 88.

Tomorrow we head home to lovely Michiana inspired by a devotion by Miss Minier. As Paul experienced a conversion on his “road” trip, so have we. May these experiences be something that the kids carry with them as they continue their journey in life.

The Chaperones

Friday, April 29, 2011

Today was our final day of our 8th Grade Class Trip here in Washington DC. We have seen so much and have learned many things. Our day began with the Jefferson Memorial. The memorial portrays a big statue of our third president Thomas Jefferson. We later went to the Holocaust Museum, which is a place that I feel no one in our group would forget. Can you think of a time where something humbled you enough to re-think about all the blessings in your life? Well I truly believe that the Holocaust Museum did that for us all. When I was in the museum, I saw how much hatred the Nazis had towards Jews. I could not believe how much the Jews had to go through in this time. They lost everything because of the Nazis: their families, their hair, their shoes, and most of all, their identity. I saw with my own eyes the way Nazis looked down on the Jews with no mercy. Since I saw all of this, I truly understand how much God has blessed me. I then met a man named Fred Gross, at the end of my experience. He is an author who wrote a book that I bought called “One Step Ahead of Hitler”. He tells his close encounter story as a Jew himself, escaping the life in a concentration camp, but having to be on the run from the Nazis. I could not help myself but to by the book and get his personal signature (which he was able to do since he was there in person). He wrote:

“For Alex, Thank you for sharing my story and for not forgetting.”

He followed this with his name. I cannot wait to begin reading this story. This day was definitely a highlight in my week. I had so much fun this entire week in DC, and I learned so much about my country. I am so glad that God gave me an opportunity like this, to visit the nation’s capital and experience all that I did. My trip was truly amazing, and I feel that I will not be able to ever forget my time here with my 8th Grade Class.

Alex

Friday, April 29, 2011

 Well I’m not really sure how to start this but, here I go.

Dear bloggers or people who are reading this,

Today, in my opinion, was the most fun day out of the entire week. I hope Cole doesn’t read this because he will tell me that the zoo was the best. (Sorry Cole!) Today we got up way to early and metroed to the Jefferson Memorial. It was really cool, and the bathrooms smelled like a pool. We took a bunch of pictures, and had some good laughs.

After the Jefferson Memorial, we went to the Holocaust Museum and got tickets. Then to pass the time, we went and had fun exploring the Air and Space Museum. There we ate a very unhealthy lunch at McDonalds, and got cool souvineirs.

When we arrived at the Holocaust Museum, everyone got quiet. It was so saddening to see everything that the Jews had to go through. After that we went to the exciting Spy Museum. We had a huge adventure, and saved the world from a ‘bomb’. We learned that our class could be really good spies someday!

We then went to the American Art Museum, and looked at some paintings. Miss Minier had us ask interesting questions about each and every painting. We then went to the famous restaurant, Fuddruckers, where we enjoyed burgers, fries, and laughs.

Our last metro ride was fun, with Avery farting with his skunk whoopee cushion and Cole telling scary stories about toasters. I will  miss hanging out with my class everyday, and loved this entire trip.

Wish you were here, Hailey.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Today was a very exciting day for me! First we went to the Jefferson Memorial. I thought that was very intresting because there was a big statue of Thomas Jefferson. Then Chandler, Luci, and Claire did their speeches which were all very good. After that we went to the Holocaust Museum where we all stood in a very, very long line to get tickets. Even though we were standing in line for a while we were all still having fun. When we finally got are tickets we headed on over to the Air and Space Museum. We didn’t stay at the Museum that long though because we had to get over to the Holocaust Museum. When we got in the Holocaust my heart had stoped for a long time because this Museum was so sad and life changing for me. The whole time we walked through the Holocaust my heart was breaking it was so moving and words can’t describe what I saw in there. After the Holocaust we went to the Arichives so I could give my speech. My speech was the best part of the day for me. I was so excited to do my speech and I think I did very well. Today I feel that I really bonded with my class and I feel that we have become a family. I love my class!

Emily

Friday, April 29, 2011

     This week has been one of the best weeks this year.  Some of the best quotes were “Tighten up” from the security guard at the holocaust museum and “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” from me (Jared) in a J.F.K. impression.  Throughout the whole trip we have had fun with everything including the Spy Museum we went to Friday.   First of all we had to locate a bomb and get out safely.  My group got a four out of five by our tour guide so I guess we did well.  Also we had a lot of fun at the zoo because Avery bought a whoopee coushion and was sitting on it when people walked by.  That got us a lot of odd looks.  It was just overall a great week.

Jared

Friday, April 29, 2011

What a wonderful week. This week has been life changing for everybody, many people have changed in many different ways. Today we started off going to the Jefferson Memorial. This Memorial was beautiful and huge! After we went to the Memorial we went to the Holocaust Museum to wait in line for our tickets. Our tickets had a time that was for a couple hours later, so we went to the Air and Space Museum and ate McDonalds there with everybody. We then headed to the Holocaust Museum for our tour. This Museum was amazing! It is the one thing I have been looking forward to this week. Then it was to the Spy Museum doing Operation Spy. This was so cool to do and I would definitely recommend this for other to do. It showed you the real stratagies that spys do and how to accomplish them. It was then to Fuddruckers. 🙂 The place I wanted to go to so much that I was singing a song about how excited it was. This is a burger joint that is mostly in the eastern coast. It is the best burger place I have been to ever. We then took the metro back to hotel for devotions and blogging. This has been an awesome week and I would love to stay here with this amazing class of mine for even more bonding time. 🙂

Shayna

Thursday, April 28, 2011…chaperone perspective

What an awesome experience it has been to be a chaperone on this trip!  The kids have been very welcoming to us “old folks” and have kept us interested in the different historical sites throughout the city by giving well planned and researched speeches. Imagine giving a speech with the White House, the Capitol Building, or the National Cathedral in the backdrop! We expected this to be a learning experience for the kids, but we have learned just as much if not more about our great country. 

On a lighter note, our educational experience has been expanded by our 24/7 exposure to “middle school humor”.  The topics include:  bodily functions, mining for pewter, the porcelain throne, and the joys of staying on the correct side of the walkway. Claiming the whole walkway as our own can bring out angst in the natives.  We have learned that “we are not the only ones on the Metro” and that personal space must be honored.  Personal hygiene is also a must when one is stabilizing their balance with arm held high on the Metro.  Yes, Secret is strong enough for a man, but clearly made for a woman. 

We are so thankful to God for the safe travels, wonderful weather, comfortable shoes, and the company of these amazing eighth grade students and their dedicated, loving teachers. It is a blessing to be here…it just doesn’t get any better than this!

The Loving Chaperones

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Today I made a lot of good memories. While we were walking to the zoo, Jared almost ran into a pole. Actually according to Jared, “the pole ran into me.” Once we were at a zoo, we couldn’t find any animals. Finally, we found the elephants and as we were enjoying them, we watched them eat, digest, and excreted. The boy next to us boldly proclaimed, “the poop looks like a bowling ball.” To which Miss Minier replied “they are about to fight.” At lunch, Emily and I let people go in front of us…..and they didn’t speak English. Apparently my hand motions worked. As well as being a funny day, there was some things that the boys did that were really chivalrous. One boy helped an elderly lady with ordering lunch, and another bought one of the girls a bottle of water. These things were really sweet and were very gentlemanly. Also there was cool things at the cathedral.  Helen Keller was buried there and there was only a few who found that out.  This was an all around good day!

Claire