Stephanie sees Ohio capital's sites on field trip

Stephanie and her classmates took a field trip to Ohio's Statehouse and nearby courthouse in Columbus. They learned about court cases and legislation, saw the ornate legislative chambers - and saw former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn.

Read Stephanie's account and see her photos



My field trip - 5/5/10 - by Stephanie

First thing we did, of course, was have the two classes (about 60 kids and 10 adults) get onto the bus. We only got one bus, so on some seats it had to be three to a seat. It was pretty crammed.

It took about a half an hour to get to the first place we were going, which was the Ohio Courthouse. There we met our tour guide, who escorted us through a fancy hall some pretty heavy doors (I think they were brass). In there was a lot less boring then I expected.

The first room was about stories of conflict, like an Ohio man who shot himself out of cannon and the TV station filmed it without permission. The second room was about figuring out who committed crimes by using fingerprinting. Did you know, the first fingerprinting case was only an accident? There was a man who robbed a house that had been freshly painted. The man left not only one, but FOUR perfect fingerprints on the wall. CASE CLOSED.

Next we visited the Supreme Court where the Chief Justices of Ohio sit. Then the guide took us into a fake courtroom, where we were supposed to solve the crime of how Hagrid gave Dudley a pig tail for eating Harry’s birthday cake. Easy - CASE CLOSED. Then we ran out of time there, so we had to go back onto the bus.

It only took about 15 minutes to get to our next place, the Ohio Statehouse and House of Representatives. Wow, was that fancy. There we had another tour guide, and he led us all around the building.

In the big rotunda, or marble room, there was a luncheon going on just down a few stairs. There were lots of famous people down there. Then, out of the blue, there was a photographer taking pictures of a celebrity. “And over there is John Glenn, now, moving on…” our tour guide remarked. All the adults were like, “Kids, that’s John Glenn!" and all the kids were like, “Who’s John Glenn???” “Mom, who on Earth is John Glenn?” “A famous astronaut.” And then I realized how famous he was. After that we had to follow the guide.

We next went to the Senate. It was very ornate. The walls were painted bright yellow, and the floor in a flower design. There were lots of desks, and an intercom so they could call each other on each desk. The guide explained how much had been replaced and what the Senate did and everything. Then he led us out of that room and up a flight of stairs. At first I thought we were in the same room, but then the guide said we were in the House of Representatives. The two rooms were the exact same size and had the same paint and carpets. Then he pointed out there were little computers on each desk and there were more desks, closer together.

Before we knew it, our field trip was over. We all went back on the bus, (crammed, as usual) and went back to school, our feet hurting like nuts. We all ate lunch in the classroom.

Even though it was a field trip on my least favorite subject, I still enjoyed the trip. I mean, who gets to say they saw the real John Glenn? Not many, right? I mean, have you? No, didn’t think so. My field trip was rather interesting.

The End!!!