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Senior Trip Uncovers History and Friendship

Glendale Prep April 2, 2024 -

Jackie Wang, a senior at Glendale Prep, recently documented her senior trip to Washington DC, sharing her experiences throughout the week. Wang admits that she had planned to journal the trip for herself before being asked to write a daily blog for the Great Hearts network.

“We just tried to see all the sites that DC has to offer. The first day was the monument day and we walked around the whole mall, and we saw the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam [War Memorial], and the Korean War Memorial,” she recalled. “I just thought it was so great because when you think of DC you think of all these sites and obviously the White House … but I think the monuments are really what adds so much character to DC and so much of the historical richness is found with the monuments.”

One of the most memorable and impactful parts of the trip for Wang was the visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. The memorial physically embodied portions of his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which she felt directly tied to some of the curriculum at Great Hearts. This trip stands as a capstone experience for the seniors, offering them a firsthand glimpse into the deep-rooted origins and tributes to our country’s Western culture—where they have explored and debated in their classrooms extensively over the past four years.

Seniors at Washington Monument during senior trip

Aside from bringing lessons to life for the seniors, the trip serves as vehicle for comradery and a kind of farewell tour for friends who will soon be parting ways after graduation. Mrs. Sarbacker, the Assistant Headmaster and Director of College Counseling at Glendale Prep, told the seniors the trip will be a little bit of a taste of college life for them. “Just to experience friends in a new way and get deeper with people, especially with living with them for a week, and just seeing people in their everyday trying to navigate the Metro was definitely very character building for us,” said Wang. “I’m going to remember that fondly. Who can say that they’ve done that with their friends and their peers? That’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Wang described the entire experience as bittersweet. “Looking back on the memories, it’s sad to think about parting ways with all these people. But I’m just so grateful for the time we shared together.”

You can read each of these Blog entries, as written and submitted by Wang, here:

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