Field trip helps students understand Constitution

The Constitution unit in eighth grade history class lasts more than a month. After cramming new information in the students receive a break from constitution material to experience a field trip. Students continue to gain knowledge and look forward to experiencing history for themselves. The Ronald Reagan Library located in Simi Valley, also known as the Reagan Museum, provides this opportunity.

Due to fires less than ten miles away from the museum, the trip was postponed from the first semester to the second semester. The new date for the trip is set for Feb. 28.

The trip itinerary starts on the FC campus in front of the globe with students boarding vehicles and heading off. After stopping for a lunch, students board back onto the bus and travel to the museum.

Second-year campus student Nick Safadi, ’23, shares his hopes for the trip and some of the things he looks forward to seeing.

“I am really looking forward to seeing Air Force One,” Safadi said. “The fact that he carried past presidents is really cool. I have heard that this museum gives a lot of information on Ronald Reagan and I think it will be really cool to learn more about a president I am not really familiar with.”

Featuring a retired Air Force One, the museum travels through the life of Ronald Reagan and other important events during his presidency. One exhibit is dedicated to the failed assassination attempt on the president. Another major exhibit in the museum investigates the conflict with the Russian government and tearing down the Berlin Wall.

In the following podcast, Hallie Rojeski shares her experiences at the Ronald Reagan Library with sophomore Andrew Rieker.

For the ninth time in a row, students taking the Constitution unit in Hallie Rojeski‘s U.S. history class travel to the The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Rojeski shares her expectations for the visit and highlights from past year’s trips.

“This is at least my 15th time taking the students on this trip,” Rojeski said. “Looking for a field trip that is meaningful and one that they haven’t done already in grade school is important to me. This trip was brought to my attention by a teacher from another school and having gone own there and found it allows the students to see what an oval office looked like. We also get to go through Air Force One and that is always a highlight.”

Kirra Obwald, ’23, is interested in learning about the president and the rest that the trip entails. Looking forward to the visit, Obwald plans to apply what she learns to the class’s current unit of study.

“I think that it will be interesting to learn more about what Ronald Reagan did as a president and the contributions he made,” Obwald said. “I think that I am also looking forward to the bus ride and hanging out with my friends. I know a few people that went on the trip and so I am looking forward to seeing what they talked about.”

The students will be leaving school at 8 a.m. and returning back on campus by 9 p.m. They will meet in the Peoples Church parking lot and return to the same spot.

For more articles, read Scholastic Journalism Week comes to a close, Feb. 22 or COLUMN: Principal Amy Deffenbacher reflects, shares attributes of small school community.

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