By: Dylan 5/19/05

The 7^th grade at I.H.M. went on a field trip to the Challenger Learning Center on Thursday, May 12, 2005. This center is located about two and one half hours from school in Wheeling, West Virginia. Mrs. Bahmer, Miss Scheetz, and 30 students rode in a nice chartered Lakefront Lines bus. The bus left at 9:00 A.M. and arrived back at school at 7:45 P.M.

Upon arrival at 11:45A.M., we went into the Challenger Learning Center and were served lunch. The cafeteria served slices of pizza, burgers and fries, lemonade, and soft drinks. We were offered second helpings, and everyone said that it was great! Then, around 12:30 P.M., we went to a room where we talked about the Apollo missions. After that, we experimented on making a filter with limited supplies. Once we were done there, we went to Mission Briefing. This was where our two captains explained what we were going to do. We were going to act as if we were actually in space or Mission Control. First, 7A was Mission Control and 7B was on Mars in the MTV, which is short for Mars Transport Vehicle. We each had a different job. These are the jobs there were: communications team, remote team, probe team, isolation team, data team, medical team, navigation team, and life support team. Depending on which team that the students were on was on, they did different things. So, if they were on the communications team, people would write them messages, and they would send it over the intercom to Mission Control or the MTV. For example, a person on the MTV would send the message to Mission Control and vice-versa. The data team is very similar, except when people give you messages, you type them to Mission Control or the MTV. Mission Control was a lot of fun. We were able to work on computers and look up crucial information for astronauts aboard the MTV. We also received information from the MTV and reported it back to the MTV through means of the data team and the communications team. On the MTV, the students acted as if you were actually on Mars in the future. Some people on the MTV had to plan our course of descent. Ever once in awhile, we had an emergency. Other times we had to stop what we were doing to see if we landed safely or even went to the right place.

On the bus trip down and back, people did a range of things including: watching DVD’s, coloring in books and on paper, watching the movies that were playing, eating candy, sleeping, playing their Game Boys, listening to music, talking, and some times even staring blankly out the window. The movies that were played were Napoleon Dynamite, Cheaper by the Dozen, and Pirates of the Caribbean. All of this made the time go faster.

The whole field trip was fun and wasn’t at all boring. I think that I speak for everyone when I say this was an awesome trip! The whole day was a good experience, and I’m sure that Ms. Scheetz and Mrs. Bahmer will be glad to go on this trip for years to come.