Student Perspective - Field Trips
Hello Everyone! I am Nathan, an 11th grader here at PA Distance Learning Charter School! This blog post is essentially about a wrap-up of past field trips students attended throughout the 2024-2025 school year. Hope you’ll enjoy this walkthrough of my favorite field trips and my “Student Perspective”.
Heinz History Center
Date: November 14th, 2024
At the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, students took themselves on a self-guided tour of the museum. This museum consists of 6 floors, and each floor is themed to something different. For example, on the 2nd and 3rd floor, it is mainly dedicated to everything about Pittsburgh sports. Whereas, on the 4th floor it is dedicated to the “Visible Storage” area and the “Special Collections Gallery” which includes almost everything vintage Pittsburgh and even remnants of the set from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. My favorite part of this field trip was looking at everything from past to present Pittsburgh, and how things evolved through time.
Acrisure Stadium
Date: November 21st, 2024
At Acrisure Stadium, formerly known as Heinz Field, we took a guided tour of the stadium and even saw places that are normally never open to the public. Things we saw include the Fedex Great Hall, all 6 Super Bowl “Lombardi” trophies, the Terrible Towel wall, the PNC Champions Club, the Locker Room, and even got to walk on the field. A bonus thing we got to do was tour the Hall of Honor Museum, which is inside the stadium. Inside the museum, we saw each decade of the Steelers, from 1930-2000’s, remnants of the old Three Rivers Stadium, the original Terrible Towel, Steelers Super Bowl memorabilia, all 6 Super Bowl rings, and finally the Hall of Honor Wall. A fun detail I learned was when I asked our tour guide what the term “Steel Curtain” meant, besides it being the famous roller coaster at Kennywood with 3 broken records. Ironically, our tour guide previously operated the Steel Curtain at Kennywood. According to our tour guide, he told me that the Iron Curtain was a barrier that divided capitalist and communist nations. How does that relate to the “Steel Curtain”? Well, it’s essentially a play on words. The Steel Curtain originates from the 1970’s Steelers defensive unit. The players that consist of the Steel Curtain are Joe Greene (No. 75), L.C. Greenwood (No. 68), Ernie Holmes (No. 63), and Dwight White (No. 78).
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Date: January 15th, 2025
At the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, students were able to take a guided tour of the trolley museum, look at different exhibits, operate a trolley simulator, and even take a ride on a vintage refurbished trolley. We were able to look at around 50 different trolleys that were in this warehouse at the museum, where they are all stored. My favorite part of this field trip was looking at all the vintage trolleys that were all in use at one point, and I even found the trolley that Mister Rogers had a photo in, that was displayed in the Pittsburgh Airport until they remodeled in 1992.
Penguins Game
Date: March 11th, 2025
Some lucky PA Distance families got the awesome chance to go to a Pittsburgh Penguins game against the Vegas Golden Knights! Prior to the game, we got early access into the arena to see behind the scenes of how they prepare for the game. This included seeing how they test lighting, speakers, the screens, cameras, etc. We also got the opportunity to hear a panel of staff members talk about their jobs. After that, that's when the fun began! The game was getting ready to start. We got to our seats and watched an epic game. Let’s Go Pens!
PandaCon
Date: April 4th, 2025
PandaCon is a one of a kind experience! It’s our annual game night, and this year was our 4th! As Mr.Mysels calls it, it’s “The field trip to end all field trips.” At PandaCon, you can do a wide range of things. From Mario Kart, to Jeopardy, to even as simple as building Legos, there’s something here for everyone. My favorite part of PandaCon is the atmosphere. You get to venture out to the school’s main headquarters and socialize with many students and teachers, instead of being behind a screen all day.
It's been an incredible year of adventures and learning! What was your favorite field trip this year or what would you like to see for next school year? A big thank you to our dedicated Community Engagement Team, teachers and school staff and the community for making these memorable events possible. Thanks for giving us the chance to learn and explore outside the classroom!
