Students and teachers from Immaculate Conception at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn, site of the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination and the home of the National Civil Rights Museum (Submitted photo).
Immaculate Conception School in Columbia ensures its students’ learning isn’t restricted to the classroom.
Since 1985, the school has made history, science, music, architecture and culture come to life for kids during field trips to Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Memphis, Tenn.; Huntsville, Ala.; Springfield, Ill.; and other noteworthy locations.
On one recent morning, a few days before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, it seemed appropriate to reflect on a trip sixth-graders made to the former Lorraine Motel in Memphis, which now is the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.
It was here on the evening of April 4, 1968, that King was assassinated after stepping onto a balcony outside Room 306.
“You walk through the Lorraine Motel and you see the room where he was,” Immaculate Conception Principal Dave Gregson said. “You see the door where he walked out. (The students) are right there. They learn that and can feel it and live it.
“To me, that’s what education is all about. You’ve got to develop the whole person through individual experiences. It’s OK to learn outside of the classroom.”
Nora Hake, one of the sixth-graders who visited Memphis in October, won’t forget the occasion.
“I remember the exhibits in the National Civil Rights Museum — the slaves and how black people were treated back then,” she said. “I remember learning about Martin Luther King and what his room looked like.
“It makes me appreciate history a lot.”
The trip to Memphis included a visit to Graceland, the longtime home of Elvis Presley until his death on Aug. 16, 1977.
“With him, you can interest them in music. We talk about and learn about how much of his fortune he gave away before he died, in that short time,” said Jodie Hrabusicky, who teaches history to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Immaculate Conception and handles the logistical arrangements of the field trips, including the five-day trek to Washington, D.C., for eighth-graders.
The trip to D.C. will be March 24-28. Gregson said 39 students will participate; boys and girls travel on separate buses.
Typically, Hrabusicky said a visit to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Reception is a favorite among the students in D.C. Gregson, meanwhile, said the monuments and memorial also are memorable for the kids.
“Just to see the awe on their faces is great,” Gregson said. “They can’t believe how large they are.”
There also are stops at Ford’s Theatre, where 16th president Abraham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865, the Capitol Rotunda, the Korean War Veterans, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the National Cathedral and the National Archives.
“This gives them a little of a taste of D.C.,” Gregson said. “We can’t spend a lot of time at everything, but maybe they can get their families to go back with them at another time. A lot of parents like to go on these trips with us, too. It’s a great trip, and it’s very busy. We move, move, move and don’t waste a lot of time because while we’re out there, we want to see as much as we can.”
The students’ day begins as it does when they are at school.
“We definitely have our religious component,” Hrabusicky said, noting that each day begins with reciting the school’s mission statement and a student leading the group in the Prayer of the Month.
The field trips were the brainchild of former Immaculate Conception Principal Mike Kish, who retired in July 2021 after 50 years in the Diocese of Belleville, including 46 as principal.
They quickly caught on and have remained a staple of student life at Immaculate Conception.
“(Kish) was a big visionary of learning outside the classroom,” said Gregson, in his fourth year at Immaculate Conception. “I am also that way and have continued that since I got here. It’s important that (students) see that there’s more than Monroe County.”
It’s not all fun and games on the trips, particularly to Washington, D.C., where there is so much daily activity. Students must complete a full report on their experience when they return to school.
“They have to do a slideshow that they turn in as an assignment for a grade,” Gregson said. “It’s not five days off of school. It’s learning, taking notes, taking pictures and coming back and putting it all together. You’re constantly learning. It’s all about developing the whole person.
“Kids remember it forever. I have a son who’s 29 years old, and he still remembers the D.C. trip.”
The trip to Space Camp in Alabama this spring will be the fourth for the school. Seventh-graders will depart at 4 a.m. March 12 and return late March 14. It’s a prelude to the grand finale in eighth grade, when the students visit D.C.
“When we go to the Space Museum, it’s all about the NASA program,” Gregson said. “The teachers do a lot of prep work in the classroom before we get there. (Students) learn how we competed with Russia to get to the moon. Then when we get to Space Camp, they tell them all about it. And they do activities and simulations of the space program, (including) walking on the moon at the command center.
“Space Camp is relatively new to the school. The kids love it, and it’s a great experience for them.”
Field trips aren’t just for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Kindergarten through fifth-graders visit places like Eckert’s Orchards, the St. Louis Zoo, the Science Center, Grant’s Farm, Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Butterfly House, the Arch, the World Bird Sancuary and Camp Ondessonk, to name a few.
Seventh- and eighth-graders participate in fund-raising projects to help defray the cost of the trips. The cost to visit Washington, D.C., is $1,200 per student; the Space Camp journey is $700.
“They’re working out there cleaning up at our church picnic to help raise money for this,” Gregson said. “They take ownership in it because they have to pay for it, sometimes themselves. And our families have bought into this. A lot of families understand the importance of this educational opportunity. It’s something you don’t get anywhere else around here.”
Hrabusicky attended public schools, but remembers taking field trips to Washington, D.C., and Chicago. She said Immaculate Conception students are appreciative of all the opportunities the school provides them to visit significant places.
“It is very unique,” she said. “One thing that makes it unique is the willingness of the ICA parents, the parishioners, Mr. Gregson and our priest (Fr. Steve Thoma) to allow us to do this. To have that faith and trust that we can pull these off and be able to give our students this experience (is special).
“I absolutely love these trips. It’s neat to put them all together, and then when I’m on them, it’s neat to see everything flow.”