By Tyler Dahlgren

Juniors at Hastings High School were nine and 10-years-old when the world metaphorically stopped spinning in 2020. 

As it does, time kept marching on, barrelling right through the strangeness. 

Those little kids grew up. They navigated the peculiarities and then left it all in the rearview, including the things they missed out on. They had to march on, too. Things eventually got back to normal, and before long those fourth graders blossomed into drivers license-toting teenagers. 

In 18 months, they’ll graduate from Hastings High School and go off into the world. Thanks to one parent, they’ll do so with a rite of passage restored and an unchecked box checked.

Two years ago, Leah Ratzlaff found longtime social studies teacher Dave Johnson at parent-teacher conferences.  Her son Charlie, a freshman at the time, was one of those fourth graders when the pandemic flipped everything upside down. She had an idea. There was one foregone field trip, the famous fourth grade venture to the Capitol, that they might be able to give back. Ratzlaff made the proposition to Johnson, who teaches American Government to juniors at HHS.

“I said, ‘Hey, these freshmen missed out on that, so when you have them as juniors, wouldn’t that be a neat opportunity?’” Ratzlaff recalled. “I offered to plan and make the arrangements.”

All Johnson had to do was say yes. And he did.

“I didn’t hesitate,” said the 40-year veteran teacher. “I thought it was a great idea.”

True to her word, Ratzlaff went to work. In addition to a tour of the State Capitol, she lined up visits to the Nebraska History Museum and the Shelton Museum of Art. 

“I was looking for a way to do this that wouldn’t be too costly for the kids,” Ratzlaff said. “I didn’t want this to be an obstacle for anyone.”

On September 15, the Hastings juniors boarded three yellow school buses and took their field trip to Lincoln. At long last, their lost memory was found.

“The entire day was really nostalgic,” said junior Maverick Day. “When I was a kid we would go on field trips, but mostly to local places. We wouldn’t go much further than that, so to go to Lincoln together was very memorable.”

Not only were their three destinations receptive to hosting around 125 students throughout the day, they were overly accommodating.

“I want to compliment the hosts we had at each stop,” said Johnson. “They tailored their time to the age of the students, and did a great job of explaining things in depth and greater detail. The guides we had helped make the day memorable.”

That attention to detail made a big impression on the students, especially in the Capitol. Standing in the Rotunda, their necks craned and their eyes wide, the juniors might as well have been fourth graders again.

“The Capitol really is an amazing place,” said Day. “The symbolism in all of the art is just amazing. There’s a story to be told in every direction you look.”

The groups spent about an hour at each spot, taking a break in the middle of the day to sprawl out under the sun and eat lunch on Centennial Mall.

“It was really fun just being with your classmates and experiencing everything together,” said junior Brynn Lemke. “It was definitely something we all looked forward to, and hearing all of the cool stories behind the artwork and the paintings was really interesting. Everywhere you looked, there was something to learn about.”

In fact, they arguably enjoyed the outing more as teenagers than they would have seven years ago.

“We were really appreciative,” said Day. “It was such an amazing trip and it brought back a lot of good memories from the field trips we used to take as kids. Following friends around and getting to socialize, it really was cool. I just want to thank Leah, because she made it happen.”

Junior Madelyn Helwick used to live in Lincoln, and would make frequent visits to the Sheldon Museum of Art. Getting to share that with her Hastings friends was priceless.

“It meant a lot to me,” Helwick said. “It’s nice to go to a school that cares enough to do something like this, even all these years later.”

The field trip, Johnson said, was beneficial for everybody. He has students in his classroom from all sorts of backgrounds, high achievers and some who struggle from time-to-time academically.

“This experience can reach everybody, no matter who you are,” Johnson said. “It’s going to mean something different for every student. Exploring buildings like that, hearing stories like we did, it just enriches your life a little bit and makes you appreciate a bit more what you have.”

Without taking any digs at your average fourth-grader, it was nice for the 12 parent chaperones and three teachers who came to supervise to not have to worry about any behavioral issues. Outside of a few students who wandered wayward and ended up turned around in the Capitol’s mesmerizing chambers, the day went off without a hitch. Their maturity was on full display, as was their curiosity.

“Our emotional competence is a lot higher than it was in fourth grade, so we were able to really understand the stories they were telling at the Capitol,” said Helwick. “If they would have told me about the Blizzard of 1888 and Minnie Freeman when I was nine, I’m not sure I would have appreciated it like I do now.”

Though they’re a few years late to the party, Hastings’ Class of 2028 will now be able to relate to all the Nebraskans who’ve lived out a fourth grader’s rite of passage.

“My little brother, he’ll get to go on that trip,” said Lemke. “Now I’ll be able to talk about it and say, ‘Oh year, I remember that.’ We may have gone when we were a little older, but it’s cool. Maybe I’ll quiz him on some things after his field trip.”

The groups each met with Senator Dan Lonowski, who walked the students through the uniqueness of Nebraska’s Unicameral. Johnson said that the curriculum in his class delves into state government, but just briefly.

“Exposing them to the Capitol and its operations, and we had a great tour guide leading the students through, it was just a fantastic idea,” he said. “And Leah did a great job planning the day. I can’t give enough credit to her. It was all her idea.”

The day went so smoothly and the juniors came back with so much excitement that there’s already talk of running it back with the Class of 2029 next fall. They too had their fourth grade field trip to Lincoln wiped out in the wake of the pandemic.

“I would like to do it again, as long as Mrs. Ratzlaff agrees to help,” Johnson said with a laugh.

Count her in.

“They’re hoping we do it again, and I’d be glad to help,” she said. “I’m hoping that this inspires other schools to do this. We’re grateful that the administration said yes and put it into the budget.”

Sometime around two in the afternoon, the students boarded their buses and spent the next two hours rolling down I-80 back to Hastings. They recapped the day’s highlights and laughed like fourth graders again. 

“It’s going to be a lifelong memory, the way I hear them talk about it,” said Johnson. “I think they’ll always remember that trip. It was a very enjoyable day.”

This new memory, made on a perfect early fall day in Lincoln, just may have been as good as the one they lost.