During the winter session, ECCO took a trip to the American southwest. We stopped in Illinois, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. In Illinois, we stopped in Casey and viewed many of the world’s largest items such as: windchime, mailbox, pencil, chair, ruler, etc. Next, we drove to Little Rock, Arkansas and went to the Central High School Museum. This was the location of the Little Rock Nine; they were the first nine African American students to integrate into a white school district. We were able to go into the actual high school, and it is actually still a functioning high school today. The next day, we drove to a Japanese internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas. We met a really interesting woman named Susan who showed us the different parts of the museum and taught us about different types of internment camps. Then we visited the location of the actual internment camp. We got to hear stories from one of the internees about life in the internment camp. From there, we drove to the Hoo-Hoo International Museum in Gurdon, Arkansas which is a fraternity for people in the lumber industry. Next, we drove to Humble, Texas, and the following day we visited the Aldine School District. We went to a STEM middle school and an early elementary school. It was really interesting to see the different schools because there is nothing comparable in Ohio. Later that night, we went out to dinner with 3 ECCO Alumni, and they talked to us about their move to Texas and their experiences there. The following day, we left Humble to drive to Dilley, Texas to see the nation’s largest detention center for women and children seeking asylum. We were given a tour of the detention center, and in the center, they had a charter school system where we saw classrooms and met with the principal. From Dilley, we drove to Laredo, Texas, and the next day we went to the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum. Later, we drove to a suburb of San Antonio to Dr. Vrooman’s brother, Steve’s house. We met Vrooman’s parents, brother, brother’s girlfriend, niece, and nephew. Next, we drove to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and visited three schools while we were there. We visited Odyssey Leadership Academy (grades 6-12), Santa Fe High School (grades 7-12), and Dove STEM Academy (grades K-12). After we had visited the schools, we went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum. This museum depicted the bombing from 1995 which had a huge emotional impact. This was our final planned stop before returning to BGSU. During the drive back, we stopped in Uranus, Missouri and went into a gift shop in the town. After this entertaining stop, we finished our drive up to Bowling Green. This trip was very eye-opening based on the different experiences that we had at schools and museums. It is so important to have different experiences and travel because it allows us to become more well-rounded individuals. The experiences that we get from going on the ECCO trips also make us better as teachers. We are able to see what other schools are implementing for their students, and we can come back with great ideas going into the future. In addition, we learn what other opportunities are out there for us, especially if we want to move after graduation. Overall, we learned so much on the trip, and we have been able to share the knowledge that we gained and use the knowledge within our future interactions and experiences.
- Written by Avery Holland and Kayla Eber
