WASHINGTON D.C. — A group of 35 sophomores, juniors and seniors from Houlton High School recently returned from a four-day trip to Pennsylvania as part of an educational excursion.
Houlton High School Social Studies teacher Tim Tweedie and Jobs for Maine Grads instructor Dee Butler, organized the trip as a way to expose students to some of the most significant monuments in the United States.
“Dee and I started planning this trip one year ago,” Tweedie said. “The feedback from last year’s Washington D.C. trip was so overwhelmingly positive that we knew we wanted to make this an annual endeavor.”
“Many of our students have never left the state,” added Butler. “We provide an excellent education within the walls of Houlton High, but it is even better when we can supplement it with travel experiences giving students the opportunity of seeing history first-hand.”
The cost for the trip was $900 with the student responsible for coming up with the money. Various fundraisers were planned throughout the year to aid in the expense.
The group left after school on Wednesday, April 6, and arrived in Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 7 a.m. Thursday, April 7. The group toured the grounds where passengers heroically brought down United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.
“My favorite part was the Flight 93 Memorial. You could feel the heartache as soon as you entered the building. Walking the path down to the crash site was very emotional,” said junior Dylan Johnston.
Added junior Chloe Davis, “I’ve been to the Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, so to be able to tie the history of that day all together was a really cool experience for me.”
Later that same day, the group visited the Indian Echo Caverns in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. Here, the students toured limestone caves that were first discovered in 1802. The last stop that day was Gettysburg, where they visited all of the historic locations, including Little Round Top, home to a monument dedicated to Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine regiment.
Senior Connor Grant said “Visiting Gettysburg was my favorite part of the trip. The National Park Service does a great job of presenting the events that took place over those three days.”
Junior Seth Brown agreed saying “we learned about Gettysburg in U.S. history class, but to be able to see it in person was great.”
On their second day, the group began with a tour of Valley Forge, followed by a visit to the historic Eastern State Penitentiary, a defunct prison that was once home to notorious gangster, Al Capone.
As senior, Megan Collett noted, “I really enjoyed going there. It was amazing that they would build this castle-like prison in the middle of a city. There was nothing else like it around.”
The group also squeezed in an afternoon visit to the Franklin Institute Science Museum, then ended their day by going to a 76ers professional basketball game in which they were invited to sit courtside and watch the team’s pre-game practice and meet head coach (and Maine native) Brett Brown.
The third day involved going to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Reading Terminal Market, and One Liberty Place, the tallest building in Philadelphia. The group departed the city around 630 p.m. on Saturday evening and arrived back home at 6 a.m. Sunday.
Since the trips have gone so smoothly, talks for next year have already begun.
“The response we got from the students was that they want to go to either New York City or Washington D.C.,” Tweedie said. “Both locations provide lots of opportunity to see new things, so, Mrs. Butler and I have already started looking into it and we’ll definitely be seeking student input.”
Butler added, “Mr. Tweedie and I don’t simply tell the kids where we are going, they help us select. There were several times in the past few years where we gathered our students and asked them to make decisions so they would have a say in their travel experience. This is their trip.”
At this point, all of the returning sophomores and juniors have expressed that they want to go next year, no matter where the group decides to go. As Johnston put it, “It was a great time and I can’t wait to go again!”
