A group of Garrett High School Dual Credit students traveled to visit many of the sites they learned about in their studies during a trip to Shanksville, Gettysburg, and Washington, D.C. from March 10-14. The group was led by GHS Dual Credit History teacher Mark Claxton and colleague Bill Thomas.
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 group was one of the largest ever to make the trip from GHS with 40 students and 20 adults filling two charter buses.
“Bill and I very much enjoyed the opportunity to lead our students and chaperones on this educational journey,” Claxton said. “Our group was able to visit a host of historical locations and connect what they have learned and discussed in the classroom with the actual sites. We were fortunate to have a well-behaved, inquisitive group who left the East Coast with even more knowledge and insight…and they were even able to speak with George Washington at Mount Vernon!”
GHS participated in two wreath-laying ceremonies. The first was at the burial site of 1957 GHS grad and U.S. Army veteran, Bill Shenk, who is interred at Arlington. On the final day, the group also 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.
“This trip was a great opportunity to bring lessons from the classroom to life for our students during our nation’s 250th celebration year,” Thomas said. “It was also a source of pride for Mark and me to see people compliment our students everywhere we went on their behavior and attitude throughout the trip.”
The group left GHS early on March 10 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-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 split up for choices of museums to visit among the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, American History Museum, Natural History Museum, and the National Gallery of Art. The busy day ended with visits to the Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial.
The second day of sightseeing was just as eventful, beginning with visits to the World War I Memorial, White House Visitors’ Center, and the National Archives before heading to Ford’s Theatre. After lunch, the group made a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, followed by stops at the Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Franklin D. Roosevelt memorials. The day wrapped up by taking Air Force veteran Christa Sullinger to the Air Force Memorial as well as trips to the Pentagon 9/11 and Iwo Jima memorials.
Friday began at Arlington National Cemetery with a wreath ceremony and a chance to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. After lunch outside the Eisenhower Memorial, the students had a guided tour of the U.S. Capitol building and photo stops outside the Supreme Court and Library of Congress buildings. This day culminated with visits to the National Portrait Gallery, Washington Monument, and World War II Memorial.
The trip’s final day 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.
A similar trip with Dual Credit students from GHS is already planned for March 2028.
A total of 60 people represented Garrett High School on the trip this year including students Gabe Armstrong, Lillian Asfour, Landon Best, Aiden Boltz, Sophia Boltz, Gabe Costin, Ryleigh Crowl, Bianca DePew, Sarah DePew, Christian Fast, Haylee Figert, Rilyn Flotow, Megan Fox, Jose Fuentes, Kyle Gater, Owen Haynes, Luke Hicks, Wade Kirby, Hunter Koble, Nolan Kramer, Averie Kunkel, Charlotte Lemen, Wyatt Matson, Connor Morimanno, Carter Overbay, Danica Reynolds, Alexander Smith, Brennan Stezowski, Carson Terrell, Abby Thomas, Jacob Thrush, Tyler Thrush, Ashlee Vanderbosch, Isaac Wells, Shelby Wells, Lucie White, Neveah Wilson, Randi Woodward, and Chloe Zuehsow. They were joined by chaperones Ben Armstrong, Julie Christensen, Jenifer Claxton, Jerry Crowl, Nathan Fast, Michelle Fox, Nicole Harrington, Ben Kirby, Seth Knepper, Corey Lemen, Sarah McCormick, Samuel Overbay, Joel Rahrig, Rebecca Stezowski, Christa Sullinger, Brian Vanderbosch, Cassandra Wells, Cherrie Wells, and Leigh White, along with group leaders Mark Claxton and Bill Thomas.