On May 20, juniors and sophomores explored the museums of D.C. as a part of their annual humanities (HUM) field trip. Sophomores visited the National Gallery West building in addition to either the East Building, Hirshhorn, National Museum of Asian Art or the National Museum of African Art. Meanwhile, juniors go to different museums based on their HUM. Saanvi Indukuris’s HUM, Castaldo-Field, went to the Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, American History Museum and the National American Art Portrait Gallery. In addition to being an opportunity for students to explore Washington D.C., this field trip is also an opportunity for students to connect what they have learned throughout the school year in Honors World History 2 or Advanced Placement (AP) United States History beyond the classroom.
Sophomore Hamsika Irukuvajjala enjoyed her time exploring the captivating details of the art in the National Museum of Asian Art and the National Museum of African Art.
“We visited the National Museum of Asian Art and the National Museum of African Art, both providing such immersive experiences. My group and I explored the peacock room filled with blue and white porcelain collections and striking colors of East Asia. The details of the ceramics and the aesthetics of the room were truly captivating,” Irukuvajjala said
Junior Saanvi Indukuri said she preferred the junior field trip over the experience as a sophomore.
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“I’m more interested in the things we saw this year and American history/art so the exhibits were reflective of that. We went to three war memorials Vietnam, Korea and WW2 and then the National Portrait Gallery, and the American History Museum. I love going to the war memorials, seeing how each was built and what it meant to people. Walking outdoors with friends was also really nice,” Indukuri said
In both trips, the students were given a layout of what museums they could explore. However, once inside the museums, they had the opportunity to explore wherever they wanted with the supervision of their chaperone.
While some HUMs had strict schedules, Irukuvajjala felt that her HUM had the freedom to explore different parts of each assigned museum.
“We did have independence during the field trip as long as we were inside our museum and in contact with our chaperone,” Irukuvajjala said.
Similarly, being in the Castaldo-Field HUM allowed Indukuri to explore her personal interests while spending time with her friends and being given independence during the field trip.
“The teachers said you could go with who you wanted, you didn’t have to stick to your group specifically. With some of the museums we could explore whatever we wanted or we only had to look at one thing, while the rest of the time was ours. I was able to spend more time with other friends and explore things that interested me personally,” Indukuri said.
For Indukuri this was her favorite field trip from her years at Jefferson.
“I had a lot of fun because you get to walk around with your friends, see familiar memorials and new places too. I think my favorite memory was just spending time with friends at lunch, catching up and talking to each other while walking between memorials. It gave us time to destress and catch up with people,” Indukuri said.