Middle School Student Newsletter, 10/25/19

Boston Bound

Hello again, Quest community!

Middle School students have been very busy with many fun things happening. First was our amazing trip to Boston. The Middle School assembled at 7:35 in the morning to board a train at Wickford Junction and we arrived in Boston at 9:30. We spent the morning touring the Freedom Trail, visiting places like the Boston Massacre site, Phillis Wheatley's burial place, and Old City Hall, which is now a restaurant. As we traveled along the Freedom Trail, we learned about significant events during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, the inequalities of the people living in those times, and even the way sites like Benjamin Franklin’s parents burial site have at times been promoted using false advertising to bring more people in to visit. 

After a full morning of walking and learning, we ate lunch at Faneuil Hall and then moved on to Old South Meeting House. We had previously received characters to portray during our reenactment of the Tea Tax Meeting, and the time had come to read them out loud to the class. As the debate went on, we yelled ‘FIE’ when we didn’t support someone’s point, and ‘HUZZAH’ when we were we did. We portrayed Loyalists and Patriots who were really there and also heard points of view that were not represented back then, but should have been. We ended the debate with the statement “this meeting can do nothing more to save our country.” At this point in time at the real Tea Tax Meeting, a signal was given and the Sons of Liberty slipped out the door to pour 92,000 pounds of tea in the Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act. We left Boston with a better understanding of the lives and hardships of people back during the American Revolution.