Virtual Field Trip in the Time of COVID and Beyond

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

Stafford County celebrated Local Government Education Week in Virginia differently during the time of COVID, working with Stafford County Public Schools to repackage the popular wastewater treatment facility field trip into a virtual video experience. The purpose of Local Government Education Week is to engage with young people in the community to enhance education, increase civic participation and recruit employees. Typically, Stafford hosts the wastewater tours, third-grade tours at the Government Center and a Student Government Day for high schoolers, complete with a mock Board meeting. In the spring of 2020, due to the spread of COVID-19, Stafford County suspended all in-person facility tours (including school tours and Student Government Day), and many schools shifted to virtual learning. Rather than cancel this meaningful learning opportunity, Stafford's Department of Public Works (DPW) found a new way to keep students engaged by taking the wastewater treatment tours to them. DPW partnered with the Schools to incorporate the grade six science curriculum components into a virtual wastewater treatment facility tour for students of all ages. Since July 2020, residents and students could continue learning about our County processes even during a worldwide pandemic. Plans call for expanding this innovative method of delivering a learning opportunity in the future, especially since not all classrooms can go on field trips, even during a non-pandemic time.