Students around the campus look forward to out of school events including silly hangouts with friends, sports events, birthday dinners and club gatherings. However, a number of other students are excited for field trips. After a long year of a lack of field trips, many students believe we have gotten more this school year. But how does this affect our students?

Many students tend to enjoy leaving school for educational trips since they provide a more memorable and hands-on experience, allowing for an improved learning experience. Field trips also show students a real world connection with their learning. 

Jessie Varnell (12) believes that field trips benefit her. “I remember when we were younger we would always go to Crystal Bridges which is really cool. Being able to be exposed to culture and things outside of what you could get rather than just seeing pictures of stuff in your classroom, is really cool to see it in person because you get a whole different experience and a whole different feeling,” said Varnell.

 Field trips are not just an excuse to leave school and enjoy your day outside of class. It can also serve to connect your learning with your environment and relate your learning to real life. 

But how could field trips hurt our students? Many believe that being on too many field trips can cause mass amounts of stress to our classmates. Rogers Honors Academy has recently taken a trip to Minnesota and Iowa, and a previous trip to Chicago. Several students involved in RHA were taken on both of these trips. 

America Ruiz (12), a student attending both trips said, “It’s inevitable to not get behind by missing a few days or even one. You get caught up in what you’re doing that you don’t get the time to do school work. It’s good to communicate with your teachers.”

 If you believe you have taken too many field trips in a short amount of time, communication with your teachers can provide many benefits. Teachers may provide extra time to your due dates and more, eventually benefitting students alike. Communication before a field trip is ultimately something necessary if you are wanting to stay on track. 

Overall, field trips seem to be pretty harmless, yet they can cause a student to be off track. However this can be fixed with some preparation before a trip outside of school. At Heritage, we have very understanding teachers, so communication with them can influence our workload after field trips.