As the students of Laurel Landrum’s Spanish III classes boarded the D2A2 bus, they began a day of exploration through art and language. The field trip built on their art unit, traveling to the Detroit Institute of Art on Wednesday, May 21, to see the Diego Rivera mural, among other works of art.
The mural was the first stop of the group’s day, and it allowed the students to see the art they had discussed and understand it better. For Julliane Heller, having learned about the mural before made the experience even better.
“[A museum volunteer] told us about how certain parts of the mural were questionable, that people didn’t like the guy who made it because he was a communist,” Heller said. “It was really nice to know what someone was telling me about.”
After exploring the mural, the students embarked on a scavenger hunt, looking all around the museum for different artists and paintings, many of which they had discussed in class as well. Heller’s group enjoyed the activity, but especially loved that they got to do it with friends. Heller and two of her friends even stumbled upon a painting that they felt represented their friendship while exploring the museum.
Landrum, who planned the trip, felt that the trip was a success and appreciated that many of the students found different things that interested them. For Heller, the painting that she felt a connection to made an impression, but for other students, getting to see Detroit and what it had to offer piqued their interest.
“It’s pretty close and pretty easy to get there,” Landrum said. “There’s so much you can do in Detroit, and a lot of people don’t make the trip.”
After getting tacos at Condado Tacos, students had some extra time before the bus came to check out the area. Since the bus stop was right by Comerica Park, students got to see the famous stadium and the surrounding city, with many restaurants and shops.
The lunch and exploration of the city were only possible because of the switch Landrum made this year to using public transportation.
“I’ve done this trip before without including lunch, using the school bus has time limitations, but we used public transportation to get back and forth, so I added the tacos in this time,” Landrum said.
An added benefit, to Landrum, was that the students got to see how easy and cost-efficient getting to Detroit is. This resource is one that Landrum is surprised more people aren’t taking advantage of. CHS teachers seem to be doing pretty well utilizing it, though, as Landrum is joining a group of teachers who use the D2A2 bus for field trips. The one drawback Landrum faced was the time flexibility required for taking public transport, but overall, the improved cost efficiency and ability to add some extra activities were appreciated by the students. And, in terms of comfort, Heller and her friends preferred the public bus to the usual yellow school buses.
Students arrived back at Blake Transit Center at the end of the day with a new experience under their belt, for some it was seeing detroit for the first time, for others, a window into the public transportation system they have access to, but for all it was a chance to experience these things with their peers and see the art they’d learned about in real life.
