Throughout the school year, Sullins students take advantage of opportunities for education beyond the classroom which complement, enrich, and deepen classroom learning. Some of these excursions are local, while others require students to travel out of the area. In addition to being fun and exciting, these trips are carefully designed to enrich our curriculum. Cross-curricular planning, hands-on learning experiences, and engaging lessons that students view as “fun” take time in every subject but reap huge rewards for student learning and help spark a life-time of curiosity in our students.

Local theater and ballet performances enrich the subject areas of language arts, drama, and music. The Barter Theater in Abingdon provides the opportunity for students of all ages to see the stories of print brought life. Not only do our students watch performances at the theater itself, but the Barter Players also bring their performances to Sullins. These performances also allow students to have the opportunity to demonstrate their good citizenship by being a quiet and respectful audience member.  

Lower school students visit Cooper’s Gem Mine in Blountville, TN, the Rocky Mount Museum, a living history site in East Tennessee, and Oak Hill School, a one-room schoolhouse in Jonesborough, Tennessee. These experiences bring a hands-on experience to lessons in science, history, and frontier literature.  The fourth grade trip to Colonial Williamsburg and the fifth grade trip to Washington, DC both serve to reinforce and augment lessons in American history and literature.

The middle school trips are always a highlight of the year. Each year the sixth grade travels to Space Camp in Huntsville, AL, at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center museum. The seventh and eighth grades alternate each year between trips to Tybee Island, Georgia and the Aviation Challenge in Huntsville, Alabama. These experiences create unforgettable memories, provides hands-on learning opportunities, as well as, the opportunity to develop skills and gain confidence in a non-classroom setting.