Seventh and Eighth-Grade Trip Highlights in their Words

Back together again in advisory after a week apart, seventh and eighth-grade students had the chance to reflect with each other about their trips. Seventh-grade students had travelled to Acadia National Park and eighth-grade students spent the week in Washington, D.C. Eighth-grade students listened with nostalgia while seventh-grade students shared highlights from Mount Desert Island: learning about geology on Sand Beach, counting (and holding!) alewives on their migration from saltwater to freshwater, and seeing a birch bark canoe up close at the Abbe Museum.

“I got to hold alewives and glass eels! We were counting them as they are migrating from saltwater to freshwater. We helped them get up the fish ladder with nets and buckets, and we got to hold them.” 

“I really liked going to the Abbe Museum. In school, we learn about indigenous peoples and the Wabanaki Confederacy. But there is something really different and really cool about seeing a birch canoe up close. It takes such a long time to make one. People are still making them and are just really talented.”  

Eighth-grade students stayed at Friends House right on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Seventh-grade students listened and imagined themselves next year. One eighth-grade student shared: “At Friends House, where we stayed, they also run workshops. They take their work really seriously and help you think about serious things like immigration. They didn’t tell people what to think but took time to help us think about what we think is important.”

Another student described: “We met Chellie Pingree, Susan Collins, and Angus King. As kids, we don’t always see ourselves as people who get to talk with important people making decisions. But I think it is really important that on a trip like this, we get to see ourselves as people who get to talk to important people.” 

While another student shared more about meeting Senator Angus King: “We didn’t get to schedule a meeting with him but he made a point to find us and talk. I thought he was so smart, and intriguing, and eloquent. I just wanted to talk with him more. He even remembered that he came to Friends School when our school was first built. I would have been 2 years old then. But he still remembered.” 

A tradition has emerged for seventh and eighth-grade students on their trips to have a video call most days while apart. One chaperone from the seventh-grade trip shared: “Each night, students asked Nicole (7-8 teacher chaperoning 7th grade trip) to video call Pete (7-8 teacher chaperoning 8th grade trip)… And each call, eighth-grade students screamed with excitement as if they were hearing from pop stars. It’s like students are continuing their practice of cheering each other on, but for the first time from afar.” 

This, too, is what middle school can be.