CLOSE UP: Bigfork students get firsthand look at U.S. Capitol

Thirty-seven Bigfork Middle School students got a close-up view of Washington, D.C., Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg recently.

The crew visited the nation’s capital and the first permanent English settlement in the U.S. April 21-25.

They were part of a group of 120 students from Arizona, Alaska, Florida, Missouri and Nebraska.

Some of the students took time last week to speak before the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, which helped sponsor the trip.

The students woke up at 6 a.m. each day and didn’t return to their hotel rooms until 10 p.m., Olivia Martel said.

“It inspired me and changed me a little bit,” she said, specifically referring to visits to the Vietnam and First and Second World War memorials.

On their first day in D.C., the students visited the World War II memorial. Bigfork Elementary and Middle School Principal Matt Jensen — one of four chaperones — met former Bigfork High School Principal Paul Milam, who just happened to be visiting D.C. as part of the Big Sky Honor Flight, which organizes D.C. trips for veterans.

Julie Bonner, a fifth-grade language arts and social studies teacher who also chaperoned the students, reflected on the trip. Visiting the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was special, as was a visit to Mount Vernon, which was part of a teacher program. Mount Vernon was special for Bonner because it brought back memories from her visit there in 1977 when she was an eight-year-old California student.

“It was kind of surreal at the beginning,” Henry Bjorge said. He noted they learned how bills get passed, about the different branches of government and saw numerous monuments. “We got to meet a lot of different students and (Sen.) Jon Tester,” he said.

“It’s way different than what you see on TV,” Isabel Lyons said. The visit was special for her because she got to do something that her 80-year-old grandmother hasn’t, she said.

“I think it’s really important for kids to go because as you learn things, you have the (visible) references,” Bonner said. “If they have a connection, it’s more interesting and exciting to learn about.”

Bonner noted that a gentleman who encountered the Bigfork students at a restaurant sent a congratulatory email about their good behaviour.

Bigfork Middle School plans on sending seventh- and eighth-grade students to D.C. every other year, Bonner said.