This fall, as kids settle into their new classrooms and routines, a few changes may make this school year seem a little longer than years past. I’m sure by now most people in the Valley are aware that recent budget constraints forced the Eau Claire Area School District to cut funding for class field trips from the budget. While one can argue that field trips aren’t essential, no one can deny that they add to the quality and imagination of a child’s education.        

I recently received a reminder of my own field trip memories. After helping my parents move, my eight hours of back-breaking labor was rewarded with the rarest of treats: a box full of yellowing class photos, tattered report cards, and elementary school art projects. As I sat on my living room floor, rummaging through what my mom promises is the last of my childhood memorabilia, the smell of 20-year-old Elmer’s Glue and rubber cement filling my nose, I was never happier that my mom is a bit of a packrat.

While the report cards listed classes I don’t remember and some of the less-than-stellar art projects were surely confused with the works of my older sisters, there were a few mementos that reminded me that education wasn’t all textbooks and multiplication tables.  There, under a story I wrote in third grade about knife-wielding basketball-playing zombies, was a picture of me, rosy cheeked in a tiny Green Bay Packer coat, my hood brimming with apples.

It’s been over 25 years, but I still remember my first field trip to a local apple orchard. That field trip was the first of many great educational trips to come. Some were more memorable than others, but each provided great hands-on educational experience and real life connections with the community.

Growing up in Eau Claire, class field trips to local attractions were a right of passage. I still remember going home with permission slips tucked safely away, filing onto the bus two-by-two with my buddy for the day, and watching the frazzled teacher sway in the bus aisle, clipboard in hand, trying to get 50 excited kids to pay attention.

No matter which school you attended or when you grew up, almost everyone that went through the Eau Claire Area School District had the same great experiences. It’s these shared experiences of our local culture and heritage that help tie us together as a community.

    Growing up less affluent than some, I experienced many local attractions for the first time on field trips. One of my favorites was the third grade trip to the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp and Sunnyview School in Carson Park. It offered a glimpse into the Valley’s past that a book could only describe. I can still smell the peculiar odor of the dimly lit bunkhouse that provides an intimate window to the bygone industry on which our community was founded.

That visit sparked an interest in history that remains with me today (even if it eventually led me to an ill thought out degree in history). Others’ interests were also surely sparked by an experience on a field trip. The actor whose love of theater began at the State Theatre or the Eau Claire Children’s Theatre, the veterinarian who first knew they wanted to help animals at the Minnesota Zoo or a local dairy farm (where my teacher tried unsuccessfully to keep 30 pairs of eyes from noticing the dead cow behind the barn), the astronomer who first discovered the mysteries of space in the L.E. Phillips Planetarium, the biologist who first became fascinated by the wonders of life while dissecting an owl pellet on the sleepover trip to the Beaver Creek Reserve, the student who understood physics for the first time hanging upside down at Valleyfair, the politician who found value in public service at city hall, or the geologist who first understood the power of a retreating glacier on the Ice Age Trail.

A lot of people were first inspired on these local trips, because no matter how beneficial classroom education can be, nothing can replace true hands-on experience. 

Unfortunately, not all students are exposed to the wide array of opportunities available to them in and around our community on a daily basis. That’s why the education of our youngest citizens is the shared responsibility of the community, not just of those with school-aged children. As a community, we need to assure that all of them receive the best educational experiences available, so the next generation remains as engaged and dedicated as the last. 

Fundraising efforts are underway by the Eau Claire United PTA/PTO to assure that future field trips receive the funding they desperately need and deserve. As of Sept. 21 the group had raised $27,112 of their $70,000 goal. Due to their success so far, the fundraiser has been extended to October 30.

I hope everyone will take a moment to reflect on their own class trip experiences and help fund future trips by contributing to this great cause throughout the year. A list of upcoming events and ways to contribute can be found at EauClaireUnitedPTA-PTO.blogspot.com.