Appreciative of Experiential Learning

This week Carter is on her school experiential learning trip. This is something every grade does starting in fifth grade. In the younger years the kids go mostly to camps and although I know they learn a lot, especially about learning to get along, I am not sure they know what they learn. Some years they are learning skills like rock climbing which is helpful when they get to be a senior and have to go on senior challenge and live in the wilderness for a week.
Carter’s junior class trip is the civil rights tour and although it is not developing any outdoor skills I feel like she has gained the best life long lessons she would not necessarily get in a classroom. The trip started in Greensboro visiting the museum that has the Woolworth lunch counter where four brave African American young men posed a sit-in after being denied service. It was a peaceful protest that kicked off the civil rights movement.
From Greensboro they went to Atlanta and visited the MLK jr. Center and happened to get to see one of King’s daughter. Then on to Birmingham Alabama, Selma and ending today in Montgomery. Every once in a while during the trip Carter would text me something that she was learning, or how she was feeling but it was at the last stop today that she really had a big epiphany.
I happened to be texting her that social justice history was happening right now because Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk was jailed today for denying two gay men a marriage license even though it is the law of the land. Carter texted back that they had just spent the last hour and a half learning about the equality social justice center in Montgomery and heard from a man who had been on death row for 30 years but was innocent and was finally freed. Here is some of what she texted me:
“There was a Q and A with him and I asked him what his most important life lesson was from death row and he said ‘Forgiveness’ and it was just so admirable and it all hit me hard. He made a really big impact on me and even though I was far back in the room he looked me in the eye the whole time he was talking to me and telling me to forgive and love because you can never live a life without forgiveness.”    
There is a lot of learning that goes on in school, but as a middle aged person I can honestly say you don’t always remember how to graph an equation or conjugate a verb in French, hell, I know there is something called the pluperfect, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is, but for Carter hearing this man speak and tell his story will be something she will hold on to her whole life. If the only thing she learns all year as a sixteen year old is to forgive I will consider it a successful year. Going out and seeing the world and learning from the people who were on the front lines of history is a gift I know my child will always cherish.  
I am so thankful for Durham Academy and the fabulous teachers who make this kind of learning possible. Learning with your heart is the best way to do it.