OHS senior trip - A Sesquicentennial feature story

One of the most recognized events to take place in Ogden is the senior class trip to Washington D.C./ Philadelphia/ and New York City. The students at Ogden have been so fortunate over the last 45 years thanks to Stan Friesen. For he was the one that initiated the trip with the help of many parents and community members along the way.  

The year was 1972 and a group of students came to him and asked if they could have a senior trip. His comment was “no, if you think we are going to use student learning time to go to some place like the Ozarks.  Not going to happen.” But he then said “if you would like to make it an educational trip and go to our nation’s capitol, I’m all in.” 

The students along with Mr. Friesen embarked into uncharted territory and began the planning process for a trip to Washington D.C. For a few years they used a bus company from Fort Dodge. Busses were not nearly as nice then and the bus company had to shotgun drivers to destinations out East a couple of days ahead of time so that they were fresh when the students and staff leaving from Ogden arrived. 

The hotel they stayed in was not like the Holiday Inn of today. As I understand they were more like dormitories with no air conditioning and room service was very limited. I have found little information on that first trip but Phil Stone did tell me that Merle and Doris Winterfeld were one set of parents who went on that initial trip. Mr. Stone was also an integral part of those early trips as he was the high school government teacher and so he assisted Mr. Friesen in making plans to meet with our congressional leaders of the time and arranging for tours of the Capitol and Congressional offices. I am not certain that classes were able to attend theatres in those early days but Smithsonian museums were on the list of attractions for the class to visit as well as other historical memorials.  

Read the full story in our Nov. 30 issue of The Ogden Reporter.

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