“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”


― Mark Twain


You can’t deny it was one of the most exciting days in the entire year.


You heard the telltale rumble of the diesel engine and the high-pitched squeal of the brakes echo through the early morning cold as a streak of yellow and blinking red lights flashed by the front windows of your home.


Most likely you had dressed in your coolest outfit that morning; and as you caught a quick hug from your parents and grabbed your backpack off the front steps, you made absolutely sure not to forget one, crucial piece of paper precipitously lying on the edge of the kitchen counter:


The permission slip. Signed.


Field trips are one of the most magical experiences school children can have. Tey get to leave school, escape the confines of their familiar and comfortable classrooms. All five senses are on high alert as they walk right back out the school’s front door they just entered, chatting non-stop as they pick who they’re going to sit next to on the bus. Tey’re playing hooky: but endorsed hooky; they have a signed permission slip that says their parents are okay with them playing hooky. Ten, oftentimes unexpectedly (because, in case you’ve forgotten, a conversation between 6th graders can be quite engrossing), they arrive at a destination that brings to life the year’s textbooks and workbooks.


It’s an exciting, immense responsibility that destination managers and designers do not take lightly. We’re in the business of inspiration. Te right lesson,


delivered to the right student, at the right time, in the right environment, can lead to a lifelong passion that, as famed scientist Bill Nye the Science Guy delights in saying, “could change the world!”


But much has changed since our youth of being herded around echoing museum halls by our chaperones like a flock of lost ducklings. Although most programs have only been developed within the last few decades, destinations of all shapes and sizes across the country are innovating their school programs in exciting and new ways every day.


So match up with your buddy, get in a single file line, and do not pull off your nametag: we’re going on a trip to learn about some of the nation’s most innovative and exciting school programs.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8