By R. Chantz Richens
Jeri Atwood, a fifth-grade teacher at Pinnacle Elementary, obviously loves her job. If it were not so, why else would she choose to take a week out of her schedule and accompany a group of Pinnacle Elementary students and others on a trip to Washington D.C. to visit modern-day attractions as well as early American History sites?
In talking about why Pinnacle Elementary does this year after year, Mrs. Atwood explains that, “they [Pinnacle Elementary] want to enrich their [students’] education of U.S. History,” as well as give the students a chance to “see things first-hand.” With this goal in tow, Atwood and a group of students, chaperones and parents, numbering 44 in total, made a trip to Washington D.C. last week to do just that.
The elementary school has been offering this chance to students for many years. While there this past week, students were given an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour well-known history sites such as Ford’s Theatre, Petersen House, Mount Vernon, the Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetery and many others.
Students and chaperones could also opt to visit other places of interest such as the Smithsonian Museum, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and many others that were sure to leave an imprint on both students and adults alike.
Atwood has made this trip year after year and still appears to receive a feeling of satisfaction from doing it. The previously mentioned goals were met during this year’s trip, Atwood affirms.
