A school for all seasons
and all the right reasons…

What a start to the sixth graders’ Washington, DC trip in March of 2009! The field trip was by air, the hotel right on Capitol Hill, and within three hours of our arrival the students had seen President Obama, the Prime Minister of Ireland, and had a photo op with Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia. How could it get any better? Little did we know!

As dusk turned to night, the group met an outstanding private guide for a twilight tour of our nation’s capital. From the steps of the Capitol to the Washington and Jefferson Memorials, night fell quickly and the magic began.

The city became awash with lights as we moved from monument to monument, arriving at the Lincoln Memorial after 10 PM. We paid homage to this great president, read the inscriptions inside the Memorial, and stepped out onto the promenade to look out over the reflecting pond and this famous view.

Our guide stopped all of us and asked us to look down. It was then he began a story of his youth. He defied his mother that day, and rode his bike anyway into the heart of the city to the Memorial to hear a man talk to Americans about a dream. He listened intently and knew those words would somehow change his life.

Wood Acres 6th Graders at the U.S. Capitol Our guide then had each Wood Acres sixth grader stand on the spot where Dr. King stood and had them look out into the night sky. It was time for them to think about their own dreams. And that was only the first day of this spectacular trip! Talk about a Wood Acres education!

For 2010 our off-campus educational journeys will take Kindergartners to the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, first graders to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, second graders to the William Harris Georgia Homestead, third graders to the Tennessee Aquarium, fourth graders overnight to Jekyll Island environmental studies, fifth graders overnight to Wesley Woods Outdoor Center, sixth graders to Washington, DC and the inaugural trip of seventh graders to the Disney Institute Youth Educational Studies Program in Orlando.

As we always say, it’s not just about school… it’s about an education. Join us in this journey!