Why field trips?

Because they are the most enjoyable learning experiences, combining education and recreation. One of the most enlightening trips I ever took any of my students on was to an NHL game. Few of them had even heard of hockey, and none of them had ever attended a game until a friend gave me 25 tickets to her employer’s VIP luxury box for a Carolina Hurricanes home game at the RBC Center—now PNC Arena.

What were some of the kids’ initial reactions to that experience?

Is this the largest gymnasium in the world?” … “How can old men skate that fast, backwards?” … “For real? We can eat as many chicken tenders as we want—for free? That’s totally cra-cra.”