Travel Grants to Help Fund Student Field Trips to Hudson Museum, CCA Events
Contact: Gretchen Faulkner, (207) 581-1904
ORONO — Northern and Eastern Maine schools will find it easier from a cost perspective to send students on field trips to the University of Maine’s Hudson Museum and Collins Center for the Arts as a result of a Quimby Family Foundation grant.
According to Museum Director Gretchen Faulkner, the foundation recently made $15,000 in grant funds available to support field trips taken during the 2011-2012 school year for schools in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington, Waldo, Hancock and Aroostook counties.
The Hudson Museum offers guided tours and gallery programs for elementary and secondary school groups, in addition to programs for university students and the public. The museum also offers programs that support state-mandated educational initiatives, including LD291, an act to increase Wabanaki and Native American culture awareness in Maine school curricula.
One local curriculum developer, Judy Pusey of RSU34 (Old Town, Alton and Bradley) says museum visits are instrumental to expose students to lasting historical and anthropological impressions, and the travel grants come at a good time for Maine schools.
“I think it’s wonderful because the Hudson Museum is such a wonderful resource and budgets are so tight that field trip budgets have been cut back,” Pusey says.
Field trips to museums, particularly those with Native American exhibits, are “a critical resource” for students because they can’t get the same kind of understanding without seeing and experiencing the exhibits. “It’s a deeper learning experience,” she adds.
To apply for 1:1 matching travel grants of up to $500 per school, teachers must complete a one-page application addressing the goals of their trip, how it meets state-mandated education initiatives, and how the opportunity will enhance classroom learning.
For additional information the Hudson Museum, the Collins Center for the Arts or about applying for a travel grant, visit the museum website or call Faulkner at (207) 581-1904.