GHS Dual Credit Students Spend Time in Gettysburg and Washington, D.C.
A group of Garrett High School Dual Credit students took learning on the road March 5-9 with a trip to Gettysburg and Washington, D.C. The group was led by GHS Dual Credit History teacher Mark Claxton and colleague Bill Thomas, along with eleven other adults.
The trip is available to juniors and seniors at Garrett High School every two years who have or are currently enrolled in Dual Credit level English or history classes.
“This trip allows our students to witness the content that they learn in the classroom come to life,” Claxton said. “A textbook cannot replace what this group experienced for these five days.”
One highlight of the trip was a tour to the White House. This was the first time that anyone on the trip had the opportunity to tour the inside of the President’s home.
GHS also participated in three wreath-laying ceremonies. The first was at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery. The second occurred at the burial site of a GHS grad also interred at Arlington. On the final day, the group led a wreath ceremony at Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon.
Another highlight of the trip was a personalized tour for Gettysburg Battlefield and Cemetery, which was led by chaperone Bill Thomas’ father, who is a licensed battlefield guide.
“All things considered this was one of the best trips we have ever hosted,” Thomas said. “The mix of great students, wonderful parents, a stellar bus driver and a unique itinerary all came together for a great week of experiences that our group will never forget.”
The group left GHS early on March 4 to allow time for stops at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and a walking tour of Gettysburg National Cemetery. After the travel day, the group began the following morning with a two-and-a-half hour guided tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield that included references to DeKalb County veterans who participated in the Battle of Gettysburg. They finished with a visit to the Gettysburg Visitors Center to view the cyclorama painting before heading south to Washington, D.C. Once in the nation’s capital, the group visited Ford’s Theatre and the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. The busy day ended with visits to the National Museum of Art, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial.
The second day of sightseeing was just as eventful, with a visit to the World War I Memorial before heading inside the White House. After lunch, the group completed its first visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum since 2018 and then made stops at the September 11 Pentagon Memorial and National Archives. The day wrapped up with a walk through the Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Franklin D. Roosevelt memorials before encountering a Secret Service motorcade on the way back to the hotel during the night that Washington, D.C. hosted the State of the Union Address.
Friday began with a visit to the site of that speech, the U.S. Capitol. During that tour, GHS met U.S. Representative Jim Banks, whose office helped organize many of the special experiences for the Railroaders. Other highlights of the third day were taking part in wreath ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery and visits to the newly-renovated Smithsonian American History Museum. The group also traveled to the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), World War II Memorial, and Washington Monument before finishing its day in Washington, D.C. by visiting the Eisenhower Memorial.
The final day of the trip featured a visit to the home of George Washington, Mount Vernon. The group led a wreath ceremony and learned about how our nation’s first President lived. The GHS group then returned to Indiana.
Claxton and Thomas are already planning to take another group of Dual Credit students on a similar trip in March 2026.
A total of 36 people represented Garrett High School on the trip this year including students Jean Allen, Ayla Arambula, Tristin Baker, Laticia Barker, Carlinn Best, Ryan Conkle, Alex Custer, Carter Demske, Addison Ebert, Natalie Ebert, Jamielee Gael, Natalee Griggs, Katelyn Joseph, Wyatt Kirby, Lyndsey Main, Emmah Moody, Chris Newby, Ethan Sheffield, Jessica Thrush, Tyler Vogel, Gavin Weller, Jonah Wells and Caden Zuehsow. They were joined by chaperones Ryanne Arambula, Amber Bianski, Mark Catellier, Jenifer Claxton, Junior Custer, David Demske, Jason Ebert, Ben Kirby, Shalona Moody, Thomas Moody and Jeremy Wells along with group leaders Mark Claxton and Bill Thomas.