Blog: Of Field Trips and Senior Projects

As noted in my bio, I can't seem to escape educators. I'm the daughter of two and I married one who's the son of two.  We've had kids in school for the last 17 years and we still have about a decade to go thanks to our mid-life bonus, affectionately known as the “Caboose”.

I volunteered to accompany said Caboose and her class as a chaperone on a field trip this past week.  We landed at The Maryland Science Center with bag lunches, clip boards and scavenger- hunt assignments in tow. 

Eighteen minutes into the task I realized that while I was dutifully filling in the answer sheet, my kids were getting sucked into the mass of 2,200 + bodies that were also there that day. They were having a blast while I was struggling to do our homework. None of the other schools’ chaperones had their noses in clipboards, and since my kiddos had “scientist wanna be” written all over them, I packed mine up and joined the fun.  

By noon we were proficient in body systems, magnets, and dinosaur exploration, but I was worn out. Of course I didn't realize till after lunch why the teachers were still so chipper: we chaperones had all the kids while they provided cheery "oversight and direction".  Gotta love the strategy.  They deserved a break, though.

I did pick up one conversation piece for our next party. Did you know that the female blue crab only mates once in her life?  However, this one mating can produce as many as 7 broods, each containing about a million eggs. Hmm, I guess I'd be one and done, too, if I had that many offspring nipping at my ankles.

It was a great day and heaven only knows what kind of adventures are in store for this Class of 2021.

In the meantime, the Class of 2011 also offered a unique learning opportunity for me a few days ago. I visited the Career and Technology Center to check out my husband, Jim’s, Project Lead the Way (PTLW) engineering classes.  They were showcasing their Senior Class Engineering Design and Development Project Presentations.

Jim wanted me to see his students' amazing projects and meet the industry VIP’s that supported his program. I wanted to see where his energy goes each day. (I decided that half of it must have gone into figuring out the title of the event.) 

I was completely awed by the projects.  I’d love to have an all-terrain telescoping chair, or even better, some of those quick-slide furniture gizmos so I don’t have to plunk myself on the floor and try to kick, shove, push, grunt and cajole my furniture across the room next time I’m ready to rearrange. And, how ‘bout some of those Wonder Wipers for Christmas, Dear?

But what really struck me was the genuine likeability of this graduating class made up of students from all 8 county high schools. They greeted me and all the other guests easily and professionally and confidently explained how their projects worked. I met a number of parents as well and it was very overwhelming to see how much these families appreciated the investment my husband has made in their son or daughter’s life as a part of PTLW.

It was so neat to see the culmination of science, technology, engineering and math lessons that began in elementary school come to fruition in such unique, final projects. The Tech Center gets a star this week.