Juniors visited museums, Fort Lewis College, take ghost tour

This year the eleventh grade class went to Santa Fe, N.M., for three days. The trip brought the students and staff closer together and provided some unique opportunities.

Before the trip Amelia Radovan Vic said, “I am looking forward to having fun with my class.”

The whole idea of this trip was for the students to learn about Southwestern heritage and visit the big city of Santa Fe, a very different environment than the little town of Ridgway. In 2005 Mrs. Lacey, a former principal, developed this trip. At the time, the class size was 11. Now the trip has expanded into a fun tradition that 29 juniors enjoyed this past September.

Over the three days of the trip, the students went to three museums: The Palace of The Governors, Rancho de Las Golondrinas, which means Ranch of the Swallows, and the New Mexico Museum of Art. Tana Gorczyca said, “My favorite tour was the Rancho de Las Golondrinas.” On this tour students visited a ranch established in 1710 and learned all about life in Spanish Colonial times.

They also took a tour of the old town plaza, known as the Ghost Walkers Tour. This tour was one of the students’ favorites. Corrie Hackett said, “My favorite part was seeing the town and learning about the Mexican culture.”

Another cool thing the group was able to do was visit Fort Lewis College. They took a tour of the campus and had a free all-you-can-eat buffet. A few of the students said they might even be interested in going to Fort Lewis College. This trip was awesome because students were able to get out of school for three days with their class, experience a big city, eat out, and stay in a hotel. Selina Hernandez said her favorite restaurant was the Bumble Bee Café.

This trip is different than the other trips students went on because, instead of camping or staying in Ridgway, they traveled six hours to southeast New Mexico and stayed in an amazing hotel. The students said the beds at the hotel were really comfortable. The only downside of the trip was lack of sleep. Dustin Woodruff said, “The teachers are off the chains!” (Translation: They were a lot of fun.)

The bus ride was really long but enjoyable, as Jessica Rutherford said, “It was fun because our class connected and partied together as a class.”

This trip was a great bonding and learning experience that will forever be remembered by the junior class. They highly recommend that this trip continue for years to come. All in all, the class had a great time with their teachers and classmates.

This article was written by Ridgway Secondary School students participating in the annual Ridgway Secondary School Fall Field Trip Program. This group of students was involved in a three-day immersion into journalism. Their work documents the other field trip programs that took place simultaneously during the third week of September. The entire Ridgway Secondary School embarked on experiential learning projects or activities during the program. Thank you to all community members and school staff for your dedication to this program.