Liberty's Trip to Lincoln
By Jennifer Prosoki
April 18, 2009
On Friday,
April 17th, 2009, the 8th grade Liberty Team took a fun-filled,
educational field trip to Lincoln, Nebraska. They all started the
day off early (5:40 AM to be exact), and got aboard the buses at
Lexington Middle School. There were approximately 95 students, and
8 adults. It was a dreary, rainy morning, but fortunately the day’s
weather turned out to be good!
We started the day off visiting the state’s capital in Lincoln, Nebraska. Here, we started the visit off by listening to Nebraska’s governor speak. The students had many good questions that the Governor was very impressed with, and happy to answer. Accompanying the Governor was his bodyguard, Jason. The students seemed to be more fascinated with the bodyguard, compared to the governor. They could not believe that someone in Nebraska actually had a bodyguard! We then got the opportunity to sit in on one of the Legislative voting sessions going on. Here they would quickly review possible laws and then the 49 Nebraska senators would vote on them. We were able to see on the huge board on the wall who voted “yes” and who voted “no.” If the light next to their last named turned green, it was a “yes.” If it turned red, it was a “no.”
Two
students on the Liberty team were recognized while in this voting
session. They were Francisco Rodriguez and Neida Tornel for being
the most improved academic students of the year on the Liberty
team. They were able to sit on the floor with the members voting on
the laws. They were then recognized over the loud speaker, and
everyone stood up and clapped for them as their names were said
aloud. They were nervous, yet excited to be up there.
We then made the trip to the museum on University of Nebraska at Lincoln's campus called “Morrill Hall”. The kids enjoyed looking at things such as dinosaur bones, stuffed animals, fossils, rocks, and especially the explore center! There were 3 fun-filled floors to explore here. From here, we walked over to UNL’s student union to eat. The students were very excited to see the different choices of places to eat at the student union. They were also in awe to see all of the college students walking to class, relaxing by the fountain, and also taking the time to grab some lunch in their student union. The students were very curious about the college life and had many questions to ask.
We then made the trip back on the bus to Ashland, Nebraska to visit the SAC museum. This place was huge, and the students were surprised as we pulled up here, they could not believe how large it was! We were able to see many airplanes and play with many science exhibits. The 3-D roller coaster ride was the huge hit here! We had a long drive home, but it was worth it!
