DI students learn through experience on University School of the Lowcountry trip

Two Daniel Island residents, Caitlin Parkman and Evan Williams, recently participated in University School of the Lowcountry’s (USL) annual middle school trip. From February 22-27, the sixth through eighth grade students explored points of interest, historical sites, and military facilities throughout Alabama and Florida.

The first stop of the trip was in Atmore, A.L. to visit with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which is the only federally recognized tribe in the state. The tribe has around 3,000 enrolled members, and Parkman enjoyed getting to know them.

“I didn’t know that they were a matrilineal tribe, meaning that their way of tracing descent is through the female line,” said Parkman. “When we were there, we learned how to play stickball, a traditional game that was played as a substitute for war.”

Parkman also enjoyed visiting Mission San Luis, a living history museum showing how Apalachee tribe members interacted with Spanish settlers in the 1600s and 1700s. She particularly enjoyed interacting with re-enactors playing the roles of the friar and one of the Apalachees, as well as seeing the reconstructed council house.

During the trip each year, students tour at least one college or university to help them begin thinking about opportunities after high school graduation. For Williams, this year’s visit to Florida State University had personal meaning, as his parents Frank and Alissa Williams are graduates.

“This was my first time visiting the campus in person, and my dad’s classics professor, Nancy DeGrummond, was our tour guide,” said Williams.

Williams also enjoyed spending time at the National Naval Aviation Museum and Naval Air Station Pensacola. He was able to see aircraft from WWII, including some Japanese and German planes, but his favorite part of the experience was learning about the Blue Angels.

“I absolutely love the Blue Angels, and it was so interesting to learn more about them in this museum,” added Williams. “They had multiple simulations that reenacted fighting, flying, landing, takeoff, and what they have to go through when they’re are reaching a higher altitude.”

The annual trip is an extension of USL’s Learning Outside the Classroom program, which engages students in weekly field trips to explore everything from military bases and local governments to plantations and houses of worship. These experiential learning field trips provide students the opportunity to make connections between what they’ve learned in the classroom and what is going on in the world around them.

During the trip, students also visited the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception; Gulfquest; NASA’S Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral; Pinecraft (an Amish vacation destination); the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at FSU; the Tampa Bay Times and environmental reporter, Craig Pittman; The Ringling Art Museum; and Castillo de San Marcos.