The singing began en route to Fox's Island, Va., June 3 aboard Frederick County Public Schools bus No. 9. It never really stopped until the ride back to Middletown three days later.
A group of seven jovial Middletown High School environmental science and biology students and two science faculty made the four-hour journey to the Chesapeake Bay island in hopes of finding education, fun and sun.
"It's hands-on. They get excited about the outdoors. There's a slogan called No Child Left Inside,' and it's sort of our motto," said Sharon Steger, one of the two faculty members who organized and attended the field trip. "I've been involved in field trips my entire career. It's important to get [students'] hands wet and their feet muddy."
And muddy they got, spending several hours "marsh-mucking," walking through a deep, muddy marsh, ruining their clothes and playing variations on hide-and-seek and follow-the-leader before swimming in the cool Bay water to clean off.
They had no phones, no iPods and no way to take a shower at the lodge, where they cooked their own meals and collected hand-pumped water to wash their hands and brush their teeth.
The first thing they did after getting settled in was go out on the boat and place about 25 crab traps, from which they gathered two dozen crabs, which they cooked with onions and Old Bay seasoning, and feasted on, just before leaving the island.
Though their days were long and exhausting, the seven students who chose to sign up to join their science teachers on the jaunt say that it was an amazing time, and that they created memories they will never forget.
"I'm definitely going again next year. It was so much fun," junior Molly Russell said. "It was the best field trip I've ever been on, but it felt more like a vacation."
E-mail Connor Adams Sheets csheets@gazette.net.