Too often do we, including myself, roll our eyes, question, and complain about kids today every time they ‘oof,’ play Fortnite, floss, become unhinged when they are without their screens for more than one class period, spend too much time on their screens (during class periods), religiously reference YouTube channels, memes and more memes, ponder over the perfect Snapchat filter or Finsta handle; the list could go on and on. But then, I try to remember when I was that age and think about the ridiculous and annoying trends and habits we had that were clearly and absolutely the coolest thing. Ever.
No one can dispute that Giga Pets were amazing. Cutting, saving, and sending in cereal box tops for amazing prizes. Anything Lisa Frank. Creating that perfect MySpace profile – and then using it. Beanie Babies. Gel Pens. Pogs. AIM and the fascination with chatrooms. The hours spent on Napster and Limewire downloading (at times illegally – admit it) music. Troll dolls – better when they had a bedazzled belly button. Everything Pokémon. TRL – where you had to make sure you were sitting in front of the television at exactly the right time and timed your bathroom breaks accordingly. Furbies.
You get the idea. We were once them.
It’s easy to point out the negatives, especially when there is a gap between versions of what’s cool and what’s not, but often overlooked is just how fantastic and mature kids today can be while they floss.
This past week, Valentine’s week, I traveled with three other coworkers on the Darlington annual middle school trip with the seventh grade. One bus and 35 cherubs. During the course of traveling 1,438 miles, we stayed in four hotels, ate 13 meals away from home, experienced seven guided tours of Virginia and North Carolina history, boosted the economy in six gift shops, and spent countless hours snacking, singing, dance challenging, triviaing, and spending time together, “chaperone” and student.
The future really is bright.
This was my third trip with the middle schoolers and it was often questioned out of the four “adults,” who the real chaperone was. Most hands pointed toward Mrs. Pieroni, but that is not the point of this story. Each year, three trips embark for one week of adventures and outside the classroom learning. So, in my three years at Darlington, that’s nine total trips. I attended three, but let’s face it, people talk and you practically know everything that happens on every trip, nauseated vomiting and all. But, this trip? This group of seventh grade cherubs? The future really is bright.
During the course of those five days and 1,438 miles, we, the “chaperones,” had not one disciplinary issue. We had no complaints from guides, hotel staff, bus drivers, my own mother who crashed the trip, waiters and waitresses, or random strangers. They traveled together and respected the bus. The took trash off every time and upon inspection at each rest area and hotel, nothing was left behind (except my perfect pillow at hotel number one). They listened and obliged to instruction given via the tour guide and our one adult, Mrs. Pieroni. They said yes ma’am’s and thank you’s to each restaurant service member, hotel staff, tour guide, and museum curator. They arrived on time. They turned in phones complete with chargers on time and relatively agreeable. They woke up on time. They participated and knew trivia questions when goaded with candy. Not one disciplinary issue.
These trips obviously provide insight into real-life applications of what students have been learning in the classroom. From NASA space adventure and Spanish colonization (sixth grade), to Civil War Battlefields, Lost Colonies, the history of the enslaved (seventh grade), and a history of the State of Georgia and its government (eighth grade). All is first learned from a book, screen, and board while sitting still behind a desk and then brought to life during those miles and hours spent on a bus. But that’s not all that’s learned and that’s not all that I am encouraged with from these middle schoolers.
During those hours, students learned about each other. They learned how to interact within close quarters of one another, learned to compromise when half the bus wanted to hear Taylor Swift and the other wanted Sicko Mode. They learned to share spaces and seats, providing shoulders for pillows and room for Jacob and Felix to co-exist as one unicorn. They learned to spend nights without their phones. They learned to have face to face discussions at lunch tables without their phones. They learned to wake up in the morning without their phones. They took on responsibility and autonomy across state borders, being thrown into new territories and accents without their comfort animals, goodnight hugs from parents, and homecooked meals. All completed successfully, with no disciplinary issues.
This seventh grade class worked together, compromised together, learned together, sang together, dance battled together, bowled together, answered trivia together, questioned our capabilities as “real adults” together, and ultimately spent a week learning without even knowing it. I may still twitch a little when I hear about Fortnite, every day, every single day; and I will never fully understand the hilarity of dabbing, but then again, my Furby secretly terrified me and I owned more than one.
The future really is bright and I am excited for this class of 2024. Thank you for a trip to be remembered.
