BMS students travel to Washington, D.C. and New York

Local middle school students took a milestone field trip to the East Coast over spring break. Berg Middle School sent a total of 103 people, 80 of those students, to Washington, D.C. and New York City to see history come alive and walk the same paths of celebrated Americans.

The trip takes place every two years and visits places which are part of the school curriculum, said Tyler Stewart, an organizer of the trip and eighth-grade history teacher. He and Tara Zehr, an instructional coach for math, organized the trip to visit places such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Vietnam Memorial and Times Square.

The trip is not technically school sponsored, both teachers explained. The year prior, an informational meeting is hosted to explain how the trip works. Students are to fundraise to make the trip possible. There are a variety of fundraisers which are used including, car washes, running concession stands, can drives and phone book distribution routes.

Zehr said the students are the ones who are able to make the field trip possible, noting $30,000 has been raised between the two trips, while signing minimal paperwork which includes forms about room and board and being on good behavior while on the trip.

“We also offer scholarships,” Zehr said.

Students Kael Swarts, Abbey Smith, Maggie Garrett and Derek Beiner all went on the trip and found out about it in different ways.

Garrett said she found out through advertisements around the school and in her classes, Beiner said he knew people who went on the trip, and it seemed interesting to him, Smith said had a friend whose older sister had gone on the trip and Swarts said he had neighbors who went and he helped fundraise for them.

Each of the students had parts of the trip they found interesting. Garrett said she liked the memorials and the Holocaust Museum. Beiner said he enjoyed looking at all of the monuments around Washington.

Swarts took time to think about how he was where history happened, and how he was walking on the same roads as celebrities.

“George Washington stood where I stood,” Swarts said.

Smith said she liked going to where huge parts of history happened, like the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Each of the students had their own favorite experience on the trip. Garrett said her favorite place was the Holocaust Museum.

“It was a really emotional place ... it was really eye-opening,” Garrett said.

She also liked being able to walk where Presidents walked and stood where some of the countries hero’s have stood.

Beiner said the Holocaust Museum was eye-opening because of what he learned at school about it. Upon going to the museum, all the lessons came into perspective or him.

Smith said she enjoyed all the history she was surrounded by.

Swarts said he liked being at the Vietnam War Memorial especially after hearing about the controversy which surrounded it. He also enjoyed riding the subways and climbing the stairs onto the street above him.

He said in his mind Des Moines is a big city, but his idea of a big city changed when he went on this trip and saw how large cities around the country can be.

“It’s like walking up and boom, thousands of people and thousands of lights,” Swarts said.

Contact Samuel Nusbaum at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or snusbaum@newtondiailynews.com