Laura Geiger started the D.C. trip program at North High School while she worked there, then moving to Benson High School, started the program here bringing more opportunities to Benson Students alike. 

    Whether it was first time experiences or learning more about the country, all the students that decided to go on this trip benefited from the experiences made possible by donors and chaperones. 

    “I went to learn about the monuments and see what my teachers were talking about in AP Government,” senior Clard Carruth said. “I also went to enjoy time with my friends in a travelling setting.” 

    For many of the Benson seniors, the trip was more than a class field trip; it was their first real look at a world beyond Omaha, made possible by a program that works hard to make sure cost is never the reason a student stays home. 

    “Most trips you must pay for all on your own,” Geiger said. “That would be easily $1,500 to $2,000. I work hard to keep it cheap for students, so money isn’t an obstacle to keep them from going.” 

    Building that kind of opportunity for students does not typically happen overnight; or even over a few weeks. For trip organizer Geiger, turning the D.C. trip into a reality is a year-round effort. 

    “I pretty much planned all school year,” Geiger said. “This year with it being the 250th anniversary of our country, it was a lot more challenging to book.” 

    All that planning, Geiger says, is worth it the moment students walk through the doors of the Capitol. For some, the experience leaves an impression that lasts long after the flight home. 

    “Every year when I see the students light up like when we walked into the rotunda of the Capital,” Geiger said. “Then when we walked into the Library of Congress and everyone’s face just lit up. Those types of things kind of stay in my memory.” 

    Students do not only leave Washington D.C. with memories though. 

    “There’s confidence that a lot of students typically come back with,” Geiger said.
”When you experience something without your parents and outside of your element, students get more comfortable and I definitely notice it.” 

    That sense of confidence in doing something hard, somewhere so unfamiliar and without parents to fall back on was something Geiger said she watched students find over the course of the week. 

    “I gained a lot of new skills like a metro system, boarding planes and traversing a new city,” senior Maritza Baradas said. “But I also gained life experience, I learned more about my friends that went on the trip, even some things about chaperones I would not have known.” 

    Through learning facts about friends and useful skills students left with something to ponder about. 

    “Despite travelling before with my family, the Washington D.C. trip felt different,” senior Philip Gajmer said. “I felt a sense of growing confidence.” 

    Although the trip only lasted a week, the experiences and memories of students and chaperones left with are lifelong.