Tuesday, May 29th, Mrs. Payne and Mr. Arsenault’s Civics classes travelled to Hartford for a tour of the Connecticut State Capitol, a visit to the Connecticut History Museum, as well as the Supreme Court. 27 civics students, Mrs. Payne, and Mrs. Santopietro left at 8:05 and arrived at the capitol building by 9:00. Payne believes that this trip is useful to students, not only in their learning of our state government, but also in the progression in their in-class work and assignments.
This trip has been offered in Payne’s Civics classes for the last nine years and she believes it’s a beneficial trip: “Students don’t often get a chance to visit the Capitol and it is a pretty remarkable building with so much history,” Payne says. “I want to offer students the opportunity to see it and gain an appreciation for the building and maybe apply some of their learning as well.” Seeing as the students visited a multitude of historically significant buildings, many history classes, not just civics, can learn from this trip. She said, “We get to see the Connecticut History Museum which has some fascinating artifacts that connect nicely to US History classes.” Additionally, Payne expresses, “we also go to the Supreme Court, which can be applied to law classes as well.” Sophomore, Clio Lombard mentions how this trip expanded her knowledge in her own civics class. “I didn’t truly understand how our state government worked until I went to the capital and got a better view.”