Field Trip

We shot a very special episode of “Get Up Get Out” yesterday that you won’t want to miss:
Something very important to us is threatened, and we see how the power of friendship and commitment can make a big difference in making sure we stay safe and healthy.

Okay, so it’s not exactly “Growing Pains.” But it is a special episode where we’re joined by a group of sixth graders from Rochester and the friend that needs our help is the Clinton River Watershed. And it really is special. Sixty students, along with teachers, parents and environmental experts held class on a riverbank in Auburn Hills, learning how to tell whether or not this very important ecosystem is clean and safe.

But the best part for me was that it was a field trip. The best of all school days – loading the bus, driving to the location, breaking off into groups and having the kind of fun you really never get to have after elementary school. It was fun to see the kids learning in this outdoor setting, but also learning about each other and themselves; who they are, and what they want to be. Kelley and I talked with them about their field study, and then about the field trips we took when we were young.

It’s funny how moment can prompt a memory. I told the kids about the time my sixth grade class spent an entire week at Cranbrook and how much fun that was. Funny, I hadn’t thought about that in years and I wondered if they even still did that. “Probably not,” Kelley deadpanned. That was a looooong time ago!”

True enough, I guess but that’s what makes it so remarkable. Once I thought about it, I could remember the fun we had: Chasing each other through the Hall of Time; the table where I ate lunch, even who I sat next to in the Planetarium. Being with those kids yesterday reminded me of one of the best things about growing up.

We call them ‘tweens, today – that place between innocence and adolescence; a place where we begin to discover the world around us and where we fit in. It’s a short stay and as much as we’d like to slow them down, we just can’t stop our kids from running through the Hall of Time, if only we could.

But thinking about yesterday, and the field trips I’ve taken in my life I wonder if those kids will have fond memories of this field trip when they’re my age -- if they make it that long! If not, they’ll have something we didn’t have: The DVD.

Fred Nahhat is DPTV Director, On-Air Fundraising