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Special Trips & Projects

Space CampTop of Page

Every two years, CVA raises funds and takes a group of students to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama! This amazing experience includes shuttle simulations, astronaut simulators, and rocket building. This "Pathfinder" program is open to students in Grades 4-8. Next launch date: Spring 2020!

Students wearing space jump suits smiling while writing  2 students wearing space jump suits  A student sitting in a gravity chair at space camp

Eagle BluffTop of Page

Every year, our Grade 8 students have the opportunity to go to Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center. Students participate in a ropes course, team building activities and environmental education in a beautiful wooded setting in southern Minnesota. The always-popular Taco Dinner and Silent Auction helps pay for the experience, and our chaperones are always as excited as the kids when the event finally arrives!

Students wearing blind folds about to participate in a trust walk  A student wearing a hard hat and a harness walking across a beam  A student wearing a life vest in a canoe

Math at the ZooTop of Page

Sure, the Minnesota Zoo holds a math day, but CVA has its own special version! We go as a group on a different day (to avoid the crowds) but still spend the day enjoying the animals, the environments, and the math education.
A student reading his notes on a boulder A group of students sitting around some large rocks Students taking notes on a field trip

Washington, D.C.Top of Page

Even if you've never been there, the sites are already familiar! The Capitol Building, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress, and many more landmarks and museums house the workings of our federal government, artifacts of history, and tributes to the U.S., its peoples, its freedoms and its challenges. See true pieces of history, like the top hat Lincoln wore to Ford's Theater the night he was assassinated, an actual Mercury space capsule, even Dorothy's ruby slippers. There is definitely something for everyone on this trip! This trip is offered every two years, alternating with the Space Camp trip. Next trip: Spring 2019!
A group of students in front the Capitol  A group of kids riding the metro  A group of students in front of fountains