From staff reports
Students and teachers at Forest Area School District have been working all year on a special program called the Coastal North Carolina Immersive Experience.
The program was designed to combat learning loss that many students had during the pandemic years. It was open to any student in grades 9-12 and was funded entirely by a grant, with no cost to the district or the families.
Throughout the school year, the students who chose to participate had to complete three projects, including a five-page research paper about the Roanoke colony, a slideshow highlighting nine historical sites, and a craft project featuring a physical model from one of the topics.
The trip took place from April 10-14, and some of the highlights were the Wright Brothers Museum, the Lost Colony at Roanoke, the lighthouses at Currituck, Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island, the North Carolina Aquarium, Fort Raleigh, the state park at Jockey’s Ridge and Jennette’s Pier.
Many of the students had first-time experiences with seafood, a hibachi grill lunch, watching the dawn break over the ocean, flying kites and searching for shells and other creatures in the sand.
Students who made the trip were Macalie Hoffmann, Izzy Flick, Christian Steigerwald, Esther Forker, Logan Niederriter, Jonah Glass, Leah Wagner, Colter Bayle, Nautica Sharp, Ryah McWilliams, Nate Dietrich, Jeffrey Bayle, Colton Kuntz, Olivia Thompson, Jessica Culver, Jordon Kostenbauder, Katie Salsgiver, Megan Clow and Ayla Reese.
They were accompanied by teachers Lisa Banner, John Wortman, Ernie Hartwig and Julie Aaron.