After a year of postponements and false starts, the 8th (and now 9th) Spokane students are preparing for the trip to DC News

For the past six or seven years, Sacajawea teacher Aaron Allen has continued the tradition of bringing eighth graders across the country to Washington DC and New York.

“It’s honestly the best part of my year,” Allen said of Zoom on Thursdays.

It’s a journey to continue children’s education and celebrate their achievement, moving on to the next stage of their lives: high school.

It is a tradition that precedes all.

“There’s another teacher here who was leading travel in the late 80s, early 90s,” Allen said.

A year ago, like everything else in our lives, tradition and travel got a hook at a meeting with parents about the upcoming trip.

“When we met, dads said, ‘Hey, they just canceled the NBA season. They just canceled the NCAA tournament,'” Allen recalled as push alerts went off on cell phones.

Yes. Allen found out about the March 11 pandemic declaration from a group of distraught, basketball-loving dads (I’d like to believe there were some KHQ push notifications too. Download our app, enable push notifications, and we’ll send the next one Pandemic declaration or other breaking news straight to your phone!).

“This meeting was the first time I said, ‘Oh, this is something like that,'” said Allen.

It was one thing. To put it mildly. Something that would later put on hold all of our lives and the expected journey of the children around the county.

On hold. But not canceled.

“It’s a great experience for the kids, I just didn’t want to give up, honestly,” said Allen.

And he didn’t.

Due to all the restrictions and adjustments in the past year, the annual trip has been postponed a few times. However, as the vaccines run out and the numbers drop, months of planning and hard work have finally paid off.

It may be a year late, but the journey is now a breeze.

“Of course we are taking all possible precautions to ensure children are safe,” Allen said while speaking about current restrictions and restrictions that may apply at the start of the trip in June. “We do some things outdoors. We’ll be wearing masks, of course, all the time, really.”

Although supported by Spokane Public Schools, travel is not compulsory and is paid for by parents. Though the entire itinerary is not set in stone, Allen and four chaperones will bring about 50 children, including this year’s and last year’s eighth graders, to our nation’s capital city on June 23, to see places like the Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian Museum, and more visit A ​​place that simply cannot be felt in a textbook.

“Arlington National Cemetery,” said Allen. “We talk about sacrifices and people who have sacrificed for our country. We talk about it with the children while we are there and they see the guard change. This is an example of a thing that cannot be repeated here The classroom in Spokane can do it. So that they can see and experience that, it is irreplaceable. ”

Irreplaceable and unforgettable.

“I’ve had kids in or just graduating from high school and they saw me and said, ‘That was the best part of my 8th grade. I still remember that trip,” Allen said with a smile .

As much as it means to the kids, it means just as much, if not more, to the man who takes them on the trip before sending them on to their next in high school.

“It’s a privilege to be among them and I watch them grow and transform into these young adults and I love it. I absolutely love it.”