Los Alamos 8th graders in front of the Capitol Building during a previous spring break trip to Washington, D.C. Sign up is underway for the 2023 trip. Post file photo
By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bonnie@ladailypost.com
It’s time for 8th graders to sign up for the annual Washington, D.C. Spring Break Trip. The trip is available to home school 8th graders as well as Los Alamos Middle School (LAMS)) students. The trip will take place April 1-4.
This is the 38th year middle schoolers have been touring the nation’s capital. The trip was started by LAMS history teacher Terry Quinn, who joined forces with another LAMS teacher, Roberta Cocking, a few years later. Cocking has kept up the tradition. She is now retired from teaching but is still spearheading the trip.
“Parents begged me not to stop,” she said. “Some of those parents were once kids I took on the trip and they have such great memories they didn’t want their kids to miss out!”
The trip will include round trip air transportation, sightseeing, transportation in and around Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, all meals and admissions, hotel accommodations, and accident and health insurance, all arranged by Worldstrides, a company that specializes in student tours.
Highlights of the trip include the White House, International Spy Museum, a Capitol tour, Pentagon Memorial, Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum, the Smithsonian Museum, National Zoo, Arlington National Cemetery, night tours of the Presidential Monuments, Iwo Jima, Korean, and Vietnam Memorials, National Aquarium in Baltimore and much more, Cocking said.
Four students will be selected to lay the mourning wreath at Arlington National Cemetery.
The group will stay in a five-star hotel in Crystal City, minutes from the D.C. sites and includes night chaperones hired by the tour company, so the parent chaperones can get some rest. An on-call doctor will be available for emergencies.
“We’ve never had a discipline problem,” Cocking said. “The parents know I’ll keep the kids safe.”
“I am so grateful for Roberta and the staff at Worldstrides,” parent chaperone April Wade said. “They organized an unforgettable trip in D.C. and Baltimore for Los Alamos kids. Their knowledge of the city, museums, transportation, etc. allowed them to stay flexible in bad weather, make alternative schedules when things were closed and they kept the kids busy each and every moment of every day. I lived in D.C. for several years and I never saw the city in the way I did with Roberta!”
Another parent chaperone, Christi Haynes, agreed.
“The D.C. trip was so much fun and so educational,” she said. “It was amazing how many things we got to see in the time we were there! The city is beautiful and has so much history for our kids to learn from. From a parent’s perspective, it was fun to watch from a distance as my child interacted with other kids on the trip. It was fun to have them learn some safe independence and spread their wings a bit. This trip will not be forgotten. The education and memories will last a lifetime.”
Former student travelers also raved about the trip.
“It was amazing, educational, and FUN!”
one student said. “I learned a lot about the memorials, Presidents, and wars. If I could go on this trip again, I would in one second!”
“I had never thought much about the wars my grandparents served in until this trip,” another student said. “I especially loved laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was special to me because my grandparents served our country.”
“This trip has changed me because of the Holocaust Museum,” a third student said. “This museum made me realize what freedom really is and how much we should value our life. It made me realize how horrible it was and why we should never let it happen again.”
“The students may be strangers or nearly strangers when they start the trip, but they come back as a family,” Cocking said.
Payment plans, financial assistance and fundraising tools are available.
Sign up and learn more at worldstrides.com/register using Trip ID #: 201900 or https://worldstrides.com/custom/los-alamos-ms-dc-201900 or call 1.800.468.5899.
Cocking loves answering questions and talking about the Washington trip. Contact her at scrc318@cox.net or call 505.670.0679.
