Field Trip Memory

Hearing about the horrendous shooting in Charlottesville reminded me of a field trip I conducted that almost ended in tragedy. 

From 1968 - 1979, I taught eighth grade English at a junior high school in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC.  Even though the capital city was so close, most of the students had never been to see the wonderful cultural things that were available.  Because of that, I made the effort to organize field trips whenever there was something outstanding in town.

One year, the Kennedy Center was putting on Of Mice and Men, starring James Earl Jones as Lennie.  I decided it was worth the effort to try to take a large group across the Potomac River to the district.  It ended up being three busloads of children, with two chaperones (parents and teachers) on each bus--almost 100 people.

Getting to the Kennedy Center and experiencing the play went flawlessly.  It was incredible and exciting--the first live theater that most of them had ever experienced.

After the play we gathered outside to wait for the buses to come pick us up.  And we waited, and waited, and waited--over an hour past when they were supposed to be there.  In those days, there were very few cell phones, so we couldn't communicate with the bus drivers to know why they weren't there.  Finally, someone from the Kennedy Center found me and told me what had happened:  There had been a huge wreck on the Wilson Bridge, and the buses were trapped in standstill traffic that may not be cleared up for a long time.  In order to contact me, one of the bus drivers had gone from car to car, asking if someone had a cell phone.  The police estimated that it would be at least an hour and a half until they could clear the bridge and get traffic moving again.

So I was left with 100 restless teenagers, who had already been standing around for over an hour. They asked if they could tour around the Kennedy Center on their own, go to the restroom, etc.  I realized that was the only thing to do, told them to come back in an hour, and let them go.  

By the time the bridge was cleared, it was rush hour in DC, not a happy experience for our bus drivers.  About two hours later (three hours from when they were supposed to arrive), they showed up, everyone piled onto the buses, and we went back to the school.  I breathed a great sigh of relief.  It had been bad, but not too bad--or so I thought.

The next day, one of the students told me about an incident that occurred while they were on their own wandering around the Kennedy Center:  A group was on the rooftop, where there was a restaurant and an open viewing area overlooking the city and the Potomac River.  A wall about three feet tall and two feet wide surrounded the rooftop area.  Apparently, one of the boys decided that he was going to RUN around the top of the Kennedy Center on this wall.  We have already determined that he was an idiot, so he compounded the problem  by not scoping out the situation before he started running.  As he dashed to the corner that faced the Potomac River, he realized that the wall stopped, and there was just a railing there. Just as he was about to plummet off the edge,  he had the presence of mind to fall off the wall onto the rooftop.  He was shaken up and scared, but unhurt.  

The students talked it over and decided that no one should know.  Of course, that didn't last, and I was informed at school the next day.  I was absolutely horrified by what could have occurred while these children were under my care. It was the last field trip I ever took.