The more time you spend in high school you might have noticed that field trips are not as frequent or large-scale as they were back in middle or elementary school.

But why? Do the school just hate us or is there a reason behind this?
While some students miss the excitement of those big, grade-wide adventures, Principal Shawn DeRose explains that it is not because the school does not value field trips—it is more about the challenges involved in making them happen.

“I think we do quite a number of field trips. What ends up being lost is we do not do grade-level field trips. So I think there’s a sense that we do not do as many,” DeRose said.

“I bet if you looked at the number of field trips that we have as a school and compared that to our feeder middle schools and feeder elementary schools, I would imagine we do quite a bit,” he added.

At first glance, it might feel like we are missing out, but the school actually runs a good number of trips—just not on the massive scale that middle and elementary schools might.

The reason? It all comes down to size. With hundreds of students in each grade, organizing a field trip for an entire grade level is a lot more complicated than it sounds.

“We just do not do grade-level field trips because of the size of our classes and the logistics that entails,” DeRose explained.

Think about it: coordinating transportation for over 400 students, making sure there is enough supervision, and figuring out how to fit that into the busy schedule of teachers and students is tough.

Another major factor is cost, particularly for transportation.

“Obviously, the largest cost on a field trip tends to be transportation,” DeRose said.

“And when you are doing large field trips, depending on the destination, you can only go so far in an FCPS school bus. Otherwise, it requires private transportation, through private buses. And that obviously costs more,” he added.

With school buses only able to travel short distances and private buses being expensive, the school has to figure out how to balance costs.

Sometimes, the school helps cover part of the cost, but there is only so much they can do when trips get pricier. Which is why students usually have to pay a couple of dollars.

Still, the school has not given up on field trips altogether. Instead, the focus is on trips that have a real impact on students’ learning.

“We want field trips to provide those hands-on experiences that are going to support them in their academics or skills that they are learning, which will extend well beyond the school,” DeRose said.

That is why many of the field trips we see at Annandale are tied to specific classes or programs like IB Geography or the art departments.

These trips give students a chance to experience something outside the classroom that directly ties back to what they’re learning.

However, some students feel there should be more opportunities to get out of the school.

“I wish there were more [field trips] because they are more entertaining, and you learn more,” senior Valentina Sanchez said.

So, while the school finds a balance between too much or too little field trips, we are not completely heading off on big, grade-wide field trips, there is still plenty of opportunities to get out of the classroom and have hands-on learning.