An Opportunity of a Lifetime

Just one week ago, today, the students in sixth grade embarked on a very special field trip downtown Chicago. While in Chicago we had the opportunity to see the wonderful production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” acted out by the Chicago Shakespearean Theater and accompanied by the world renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Center on Michigan Avenue. On this trip they also got a chance to visit and peruse the award winning Art Institute of Chicago.

This took me back to a time when I was younger and went to the symphony with my mother and sister and was overwhelmed with the beauty and timelessness of the hall. It is still one of my fondest memories of my childhood. I have never forgotten what an incredible opportunity it was to be able to go into the big city and see a show of this caliber. I mean…there is a world renowned symphony orchestra and art museum right in our very own backyard!

There are many reasons I think so highly of this trip, but one in particular stands out to me as the most important. Some of these students would not ever have this opportunity if I didn’t provide it for them. Over the years of taking children on this trip it started to become more about the paperwork for me. Did I fill out the field trip request form? Did I make copies of the parent permission slip? Did I turn in the bus order to Cindy? Did I turn in the hot lunch cancellation to Linda in the lunchroom? Do I have the sign for the bus? The list goes on. Then I stopped and thought to myself, the paperwork will get done and you will have created an opportunity of a lifetime.

The look on the children’s faces when we arrived at our seats in the terrace, overlooking the back of the stage, was priceless. They felt like they were right in the show! As I looked over their facial expressions as they leaned closer and closer toward the end of their seats, I realized…this is what it is all about. Their experience!

As they were walking around the Art Institute and admiring images, statues, sculptures and the plethora of paintings from long ago, or more recently, it continued to be clearer to me that this trip is fantastic.

This trip embodies the culmination of skills these students have been learning in music and art class since their start here at Goodrich and I cannot wait to take all future sixth grade classes.