When it comes to high school field trips, Fisher’s Bob Lindsay has no peers.
Four times since 2014, the
social-studies teacher has taken a group of students on a tour of the Southwest that includes stops at three national parks: Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion. Planning for Trip No. 5 — in June 2024 — starts with a Thursday meeting at the school.
“It gives students a chance to see part of the world that most of them haven’t seen,” Lindsay said. “It’s substantially different than central Illinois.”
Lindsay’s first trip included five students, the next three drawing between 10 and 18. Superintendent Barb Thompson joined the travel party in 2021 and got a kick out of the six-day sightseeing marathon.
“For me, the biggest perk is seeing the look on their faces when we park the bus and walk to the rim of Bryce Canyon and they look down and see that,” said Lindsay, 62. “That’s what it’s all about — the experience.”
Helping chaperone in ’24 will be Fisher Junior High math teacher Stacey Albers.
Lindsay became smitten with the Southwest as a 10-year-old on a family vacation. The scenery is part of his pitch to students, but not all of it.
“The trip teaches independence and responsibility, like having to follow the rules,” he said. “I think the kids come back with a little more confidence.”
