Middle School Field Trip
Naturalists at Large, Santa Cruz, March 14-17, 2005
Santa Cruz field trip photosBrowse the gallery of photos from Camp Mount Cross, March 14-17, 2005 Have photos of your own to share in the gallery? Bring them
to school and give them to Mrs. Massey or Mr. Kumamoto, or
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Well, our plans for our spring trip have finally firmed up! We have had some changes since our last meeting at back to school night. Our new coastal destination for 2005 is Santa Cruz, for a program led by Naturalists at Large. The reason we’ve made this decision is due to the fact that the travel time to Santa Barbara ended up being very long (6 hours by bus or 10-12 hours by train/bus). We thought it would be more beneficial for the kids to have that travel time spent at the site vs. in transit. The cost for Santa Cruz will also actually be a little bit less than it would have been for Santa Barbara.
We will travel to Santa Cruz by two tour buses. The buses (Fairway) will pick the children up at Hillcrest in the morning of the 14th, and drop them off there on our return, the evening of the 17th. The approximate length of the bus trip is two hours each way.
Field trip at a glanceDates: March 14-17, 2005 |
Our site in Santa Cruz will be Camp Mount Cross which is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This site provides endless opportunities for outdoor science, hiking, and challenge activities. The camp is located in the mountains just outside Santa Cruz (10 minutes away), with convenient access to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Elkhorn Slough (kayaking site), Big Basin State Park and Point Lobos Marine Preserve. The camp itself features a competition-sized swimming pool; high and low rope challenge courses, playing fields, several lodging options and excellent meals. Students will love exploring the adjacent redwood groves and our kayaking adventure will take place in Elkhorn Slough (Moss Landing). The children will be divided in two groups for kayaking, going on different days. Those not kayaking will participate in the ropes course and vice versa.
Richard Stowell, NAL Director, will be at Hillcrest on November 17 at 7:00 p.m. to meet w/ the parents and to provide an overview of the trip. He is available in the third week of February to meet w/ the students to provide an overview of the trip to them (more details on this later).
The cost of the trip is $509 per student. Because we have a number of GREAT fund-raising activities underway (pumpkin patch, pizza sales, See’s candies, Halloween costume exchange) we feel that we can defray some of the cost to each family. The amount we need to collect per student is $485. You can pay this amount all at one time, or in two installments if you wish. If you choose to break your payment up in to two, please make the first check out for $300. The second check (which will due on January 10 will be for the remainder, $185). All checks should be made out to Hillcrest PTA, with a note saying “MS field trip” and left with Mr. Kumamoto, Ms. Massey or Rhita Williams. In order to continue to fund this trip at a lower cost to families, we need support from each and every one of us in the fundraising activities. Please do what you can to support the kids’ efforts by donating goods, purchasing items and anything else you can think of!
Our first deposit to NAL is due right away in order to hold our site and dates. Please turn in your payment no later than Friday, October 29. For those who have a need, a limited amount of partial scholarships are available. Please direct your inquiry to either of the MS teachers, or to Ms. Rothenberg. Any other FT related questions can be directed to Rhita Williams on 655-4540.