It wasn’t the field trip they signed up for, but it was a trip to remember, nonetheless.

On Wednesday, November 29, a group of 16 students and 4 staff members from Triumph High School were scheduled to attend a student matinee performance of A Christmas Carol at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

However, only half an hour after leaving Triumph, English teacher Justin Earnshaw received a phone call from a Denver Center representative: there would be no show that day.

“The performance has been cancelled due to illness in the cast,” Earnshaw reported to the bus at a rest stop further down the interstate, “but [your chaperones] have a couple ideas of how we’re gonna get a field trip out of it.”

The chaperones had discussed several options for Denver attractions that could not only accommodate an unexpected group of students within an hour but would also offer educational opportunities the students might not have experienced before.  They determined that their first call would be to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

“They couldn’t have been more helpful,” Earnshaw says.  “All of our questions (and maybe our prayers?) were answered and they even took us on free of charge.”

At the museum, the chaperones split into three groups and each took a set of students on self-guided exploration.  There were a variety of established and temporary exhibits in the three-story museum, touching on biology, physics, geology, astronomy, and more.

“Did you see the star room?!” student Nevaeh Martinez asked Earnshaw’s group when passing them outside the gemology exhibit.

Few of the students reported having been to the museum before, and even those who had found something new to explore.  “The Ice Age room” (one of the visiting, special exhibitions) “was so cool,” said student EJ Torres.  “The heat sensor…the interactive ice wall…”.

Another student commented that the exhibit let them “be Elsa from Frozen, waving ice hands everywhere!”

The chaperones agreed that the students demonstrated the best of their Discovery Skills, especially their Positive Mental Attitudes, in the face of unexpected changes.  But the built-in fun of experiencing the museum certainly helped a lot.

“I’m going to bring my own kids here,” said chaperone teacher Ashlee Peyton.  “What a great way to spend a day.”