Students travel to Utah Capitol on anniversary
Daniela Vazquez
Education coordinator – Staff writer
10-20-2016
EPHRAIM—Students at Ephraim Elementary went on a tour of the State Capitol on Oct. 5 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Capitol Building, thanks to fifth-grade teacher Jodi Anderson and Principal Gannon Jones.
The trip started coming together when Anderson and Gannon caught wind of the celebration and that the state was awarding grants to rural schools to take a handful of students on a tour of the Capitol Building.
Gannon wrote a letter to the state and applied for the grant, and shortly after, the school was approved to take Anderson’s fifth-grade class on the trip.
Students walked through the solid marble columns that stand in front of the building and toured the interior where they saw century-old artwork and architecture.
Anderson said some of her students recognized murals of Brigham Young on the rotunda’s dome, but mostly they were fascinated with the height of the dome, which rises 180 feet.
Another highlight for students was seeing the governor’s desk, Anderson said. Although the desk is less than 20 years old, Anderson said, it was the story behind the desk that captured everyone’s attention.
In 1999, a tornado hit Salt Lake City that brought down 93 fully matured trees in the area. State officials had made a decision to salvage the wood of the fallen linden, maple, and Japanese pagoda trees and use it to construct the governor’s desk.
Students also got to see a replica of the Liberty Bell and learned the location of the original is in Pennsylvania.
After a long tour of the Capitol Building and grounds, the class visited the Living Planet Aquarium and got to explore using a more hands-on experience.
