This is a neat story I found in the Winnipeg Sun. School field trips were never this good and/or interesting when I was young!

Thu, April 29, 2004

The great escape
Learning bursts beyond classroom
By TAMMY MARLOWE, STAFF REPORTER

A group of teenagers bowed their heads yesterday
in front of a simple gravestone in Brookside
Cemetery and listened silently to the story about an
exciting life gone by. Nope, it's not a sombre funeral
service -- it's a history lesson.

'JUST AWESOME'

"I find these days just awesome," said Maples
Collegiate teacher and tour organizer, Ron Stark.
"It's not just opening up a book and learning about
Tommy Prince. We can say, 'This is where Tommy
Prince is buried.'"

With these "self-directed Wednesdays," teachers at
Maples are able to use more than their regular
allotted class time to provide students with more
in-depth, interactive learning experiences. A couple
of weeks ago, the teens took a rare tour inside the
17 Wing Winnipeg air base and in the next month
the group will head to Lockport for some fishing.

"Some of these kids have never fished in their lives,"
Stark said.

Yesterday, municipal cemeteries administrator Rick
Thain walked through the massive north Winnipeg
memorial site with the teenagers, showing them
where Lt. Harry Colebourn, the owner of the original
Winnie the Pooh bear, was laid to rest.

The class also visited the graves of Charlotte Susan
Wood -- known as the Lady Who Lost Five Sons
after five of her boys were killed during the First
World War -- and Earl Sandy Graham, a 16-year-old
jockey whose fatal accident in 1927 led to reforms in
the racing industry.

"It's an adventure into the past of the city and the
province," said Grade 11 student Michelle Ocran.

Friend Tereyn Denison agreed.

"I think it's really interesting. It's good to learn about the people who lived
in Winnipeg and started Winnipeg," said the 16-year-old. "It's so much
better to see it."