Julien St-Jean
Bristol June 18, 2021
For the first time in over a year, grade 11 students of Pontiac High School went on a field trip to Pine Lodge in Bristol
The trip, which took place last Friday and was sponsored by Bristol Auto Performance, allowed students. . .
of two different grade 11 cohorts to go golfing, have a barbecue and spend time on the beach.
“It’s nice to have a day where it feels like COVID isn’t a thing for once,” said Avery Richardson, a grade 11 of Pontiac High School. Adding that she was looking forward to having “something to remember besides being in class.”
After a full year of pandemic-learning, part of the appeal of the trip was the opportunity for kids to mingle outside of their cohort, explained Matt Greer, a PHS teacher who helped oversee the field trip.
“Some of these kids have been separated pretty much all year,” said Greer. “They see each other but they don’t get to mingle as much, which is challenging for all of our students.”
Greer believes that students have faced this school year with a determination that has motivated even their teachers. Because of this, the school wanted to do something to reward them with a break from regular classes.
“They’ve demonstrated an incredible amount of resiliency this year,” said Greer. “It would have been easy to go down the road of negativity and to have a pessimistic outlook on the year, but they still showed up every day and tried to make the best of it.”
