“What does America mean to you?”
Local students now have an opportunity to answer this question, and in the process, possibly win a free field trip to iconic landmarks across the country.
America’s Field Trip, a commission created to organize the nation’s 250th celebration, is inviting students in Philadelphia to express what America means to them for a nationwide contest. Students in grades 3 through 12 are eligible, and can submit an essay or artwork responding to the question.
The contest includes three categories — elementary school, middle school and high school — and there will be 25 first place winners in each of those categories. Second place winners will receive a $500 cash prize. The deadline to enter is April 16.
“We designed this with lesson plans, with Discovery Education, so you can go online, and there’s resources for parents, resources for teachers to integrate that into their curriculum,” explains America’s Field Trip chairperson Rosie Rios, who served as the 43rd Treasurer of the United States under former President Barack Obama. “The beauty of America’s Field Trip is really to inspire this next generation of leadership.”
This year’s contest will award 75 first-place winners, who will choose from 12 different field trips this summer (think Yellowstone National Park, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Smithsonian Natural History Museum and more).
“The beauty of America’s Field Trip is the award recipients get to choose from a backstage experience, most of which are with our federal agencies, and most of which have never been offered to the public before,” Rios explains. “We want these students to express what America means to them, to help them foster a deeper connection to their national identity, to really kind of think about… the gift that’s been given to pursue our own American dream.
“My parents came from Mexico. In 1958, they landed in Hayward, California, because my dad was a seasonal migrant worker at the Hunts tomato factory,” Rios continues. “But I remember the bicentennial of 1976 like it was yesterday. I was turning 11 years old, just finishing up fifth grade, and I remember that Fourth of July, 1976, as a cloudy night in Hayward, California, but those fireworks were never brighter.”
With the nation’s Semiquincentennial quickly approaching, America’s Field Trip wants the nation’s future leaders to note the hard work and determination that not only went into accomplishing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but in the many years to follow.
“If you think about all the sacrifices that were made on behalf of what it took for us to become that [longest-standing] democracy in the world, and the journey … The revolutionaries, the Patriots, the Quakers, everyone who fought for this independence and for the freedoms and liberties that we have today,” Rios said. “It didn’t happen overnight. And that’s why, for me, you can still love your country and want it to be more perfect. That journey is this journey of becoming more perfect.”
“I think we’re all future leaders in our own way,” Rios added. “And again, I certainly felt that as a kid. I think my kids feel that, too, and I think we all have that responsibility. The beauty of these kind of millennials and post millennials is that they are very passionate. Our intention with America’s Field Trip, is to really inspire this next generation of leadership to feel their future.”
To learn more about America’s Field Trip, and for contest rules, judging criteria, and to submit an entry, visit america250.org/fieldtrip.
