Letters from 6th Graders

     Joel's Place regularly hosts field trips for individual classrooms.  The typical visit looks something like this:

• Show up and the class oohs and ahhs over how cool the park is.
• We play dodgeball so the kids get used to moving up and down the ramps with helmets on.
• We spend a half hour rotating through 5 separate skating skill stations.
• Water and snack break
• Free time where they can skate in the park or play in the rest of the building.
• Time to go...which is when the pleas begin with their teacher about not wanting to go back to school and never wanting to leave.

The trips are a lot of fun for me to lead and a great opportunity to raise awareness of Joel's Place among the community.  I received a batch of thank you letters from a recent trip and I just had to share some excerpts.

"Thank you for treating us to Joel's Place! It was a big learning expirence for me because I had never ridden a skateboard in my life before that point! It's hard for me to belive that people can do jumping tricks on skateboards while on big ramps, but the holes and marks proves that they can! Out of all the fun field trips I have been on, I think that this was the most fun-and awesomest (I don't know if that's even a word, but it describes Joel's Place in my opinion!)"

"...I learned how challenging it is to learn how to skateboard.  Have you learned how to skateboard yet? I bet your getting alot better. I am hoping to come back sometime, I had alot of fun."

"...To be honest, I thought Joel's Place was going to be boring, but I was SO wrong! It is cool and a good place for kids to learn how to skateboard and become great some day. I could not even control how awesome it is that you led kids just do their own thing..."

The words are great, but I cannot adequately describe the amazing pictures they drew on the cards.  Kids flying off their boards with sound effects, stick figures strapping pillows to their bodies for the next time they come, skating on rainbows and waterfalls.  I always have a smile on my face after a class leaves.  Having been here when the building is full and when it is empty, I can safely say that this facility is so much more joyful when there are children here. 

If you know of a classroom that would like to have a field trip here, feel free to let me know or have the teacher contact me.  We have a great resource to share here and I am always happy to introduce our community to what we do here.