The Student News Site of Marshfield High School

The Marshfield Times

The Student News Site of Marshfield High School

The Marshfield Times

The Student News Site of Marshfield High School

The Marshfield Times

East Coast Trip

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First stop: Boston.

Health and PE teacher Doug Fendall is set to take his eighth group of students on the annual East Coast Trip. The group of 49 eighth and ninth graders will depart for Boston on June 16 and spend eight days touring four of the East Coast’s most popular cities.

According to Fendall, a normal day on the trip will start before 7 a.m. and end as late as 11 p.m. The group will start by arriving in Boston and going to dinner at Quincy Market. They will spend another full day in Boston and see important historical places such as the Freedom Trail and Harvard University.

“If I had to pick a favorite city, it would be Boston,” Fendall said. “They’re just really proud of their city.”

Days three and four will be spent traveling to New York City and taking guided tours of the 9/11 Memorial and the Empire State Building. The group will also be attending the play “Wicked” on Broadway and visiting Times Square, as well as the Statue of Liberty and other sites.

The group will then travel on to Philadelphia and see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

The rest of the trip will be spent touring Washington D.C. and seeing some of the Smithsonian Museums, stopping to take photos of the White House, visiting Mount Vernon and seeing things such as the U.S. Supreme Court and the Library of Congress before departing for home on the eighth day of the trip.

According to Fendall, the students have positive reactions to most of the sites they see because they have just finished learning about American history, so it is fresh in their minds.

“The thing they remember the most is the Holocaust Museum,” Fendall said. “It usually hits them pretty hard.”

Senior Anthony Ross attended the trip his eighth grade year and said his favorite place was New York City. He also said his favorite sites and experiences were Times Square and watching “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway.

Ross said he thinks the trip has a lot to offer and the sites are exciting to see because students have learned about them all through grade school.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a history major or not,” Ross said. “You’re going to get something back that’s educational and exciting.”

Fendall said the majority of the trip is spent with the full group on guided tours, with only a short amount of time allotted for individuals to explore. When they do have extra time, they split into smaller groups, each with a chaperone. For instance, they will have the chance to see Times Square and shop around as they would like.

“They have a little time to explore on their own,” Fendall said. “But we spend more time as a group.”

The total cost of the trip is $2,300 per student, and students from North Bend are welcome as well.

Junior Katherine Alcober was not able to attend the trip the year her class went. She said after a lot of nagging from her and her friend Daysha Browne, also a junior, Fendall allowed them to come to the meetings and eventually told them he had enough spots for them to be included.

According to Alcober, she is paying for the trip on her own and is getting the money by working at Abby’s Pizza and returning bottles and cans. She said going on the trip as an older student will be beneficial, as she will now be attending the trip for the history and not just the opportunity to travel.

“I really like history now that I’m older and have a different perspective,” Alcober said.

For every six students who pay for the trip, one spot is completely paid for. These free spots are given to parents or teachers who want to attend and chaperone the students. According to Fendall, this year, some of the spots are being split into two, so parents pay half price and teachers who choose to chaperone are paid for.

There are 11 chaperones attending the trip, including math teacher Megan Free.

“I saw that Fendall was talking about it on Facebook,” Free said. “I just commented and told him to let me know if he needed another chaperone.”

Free said she is very excited for the trip because of the group of kids.

“I love this group of eighth graders and freshmen,” Free said. “I’ve known them for a few years now.”

Eighth grader Cody Jadin is signed up for the trip and is most excited to go to Boston. Jadin is paying for the trip on his own and, like Alcober, returns bottles and cans and works whenever he is able to. He said he is very excited to attend the trip because history is one of his favorite subjects.

“It’s fun to learn about what happened before me,” Jadin said.

Jadin has organized a “pig drawing” where he is selling tickets and the prize is a half of a pig. Two winners will be announced. So far, he has raised enough money to pay the first payment, which is over $700.

According to Fendall, he started doing this trip as a chaperone and helper to Sunset School history teacher Stan Sweet, but with Sweet hosting the British Exchange trip as well, it became too much for him to handle and Fendall decided to take over.

“I love history, especially American history, and it’s important,” Fendall said. “Traveling gives students a chance to see things they would never see.”

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East Coast Trip