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Yellowstone National Park, Angel Island or Fort Point in San Francisco, Mesa Verde National Park, the Kennedy Space Center with NASA.
We also have the National Archives and the Smithsonian National Zoo, Mount Rushmore to the Alamo to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.
Good morning and welcome to Kid News Combos.
I'm Tori. Well, how'd you like to win a free vacation to an awesome cultural landmark in the U .S.?
That's what we'll be talking about in today's episode.
It's a nationwide contest called America's Field Trip.
To enter, kids just need to answer the question, what does America mean to you?
There'll be 75 first place winners and the teachers can get a prize too.
This contest is part of an effort to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 2026.
And it's put together by a national nonpartisan organization called America 250.
And joining us now is the head of America 250, Rosie Rios.
Ms. Rios served as the 43rd treasurer of the United States and was the CEO of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U .S.
Mint. She's also the founder and CEO of Empowerment 2026, which, among other things, is working on more recognition of historical American women in classrooms across the country.
And she's been honored as one of USA Today's Women of the Century.
Rosie, it's an honor to have you as a guest.
Thank you so much, Tori, for having me, I'm thrilled to be here.
Now this contest, America's Field Trip, what was the inspiration behind it?
So America's Field Trip, as you mentioned, it's a national contest for grades three through 12.
We get to answer this question, what does America mean to you?
And the award recipients get to choose from a series of backstage experiences, mostly with our federal agencies, and most of which have never been offered to the public before.
So it's a great kind of win -win to really inspire the next generation of leadership to participate in the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
And at the same time, it really puts our national treasures on the map.
So everything from, you know, whether it's our national parks, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, they're all participating to make these kind of once in a generation or once in a lifetime memories for these families through the semi -quincentennial and beyond.
So can you break that word down for us?
Semi -quincentennial is kind of a mouthful.
The semi -quincentennial.
Yes. So a little more difficult than the bicentennial, which I remember like it was yesterday.
So which is why we're calling ourselves America 250.
And obviously semis, half of 500, half of 500.
Okay, perfect. All right.
So can you give us a little of the nuts and bolts of this contest?
So let's start off with who is eligible to participate?
Yeah, so it's students grades three through 12.
And the way we've broken this down is there's kind of three categories of grade levels.
So there's elementary, junior high and high school.
And so as these kids answer those questions with these prompts that we've provided at America50 .org and including lesson plans, by the way, for educators, they get to answer that question.
What does America mean to me?
Whether it's an essay, a poem, a piece of artwork that they can submit.
And again, we hope to have this kind of wide swath of participation from sea to shining sea.
We did this as a pilot last spring and we received thousands of submissions.
So we're hoping that this full year experience that we launched in September with the closing date of April 16th will generate even thousands more from across the country.
Awesome. And it sounds like there's quite a variety of different types of entrants that people can can submit.
That's right. And everyone really has their own American story.
Right. And so, you know, for some students, it's maybe it's their family members who came from another country.
Maybe they came from another country, but it's really just kind of a meaningful way for students and families to reflect on our shared American values, you know, foster optimism about the future.
And we keep saying this is as much about the future as it is the past.
Right. And so and really for a lot of us, you know, this might be news for a lot of folks really understanding the journey of what it took to become the oldest democracy in the world.
Right. This doesn't kind of begin and end with the declaration.
Right. We had 12 years later with the ratification of the Constitution in 1788.
And then, of course, George Washington became president in 1789.
So it's really kind of an appreciation of the history of what it took in terms of our governance process and really an appreciation of really thinking about maybe the next 250 years and who we want to be as a country.
And what I think is interesting, and you talked about that time difference between the signing of the Declaration in 1776 and then George Washington becoming president until 1789.
So, I mean, it wasn't like the country came fully formed.
It was an evolution.
It was a process. In a way, it's still a process.
Well, absolutely. Well, look, I mean, it took two continental congresses, right, to kind of make it happen.
And absolutely. So this is why, you know, we are still becoming that more perfect union.
But look, there's a responsibility that comes with what it means to be the oldest democracy in the world.
And, you know, many other countries have cited our founding documents informing their own government.
And so that is still an evolutionary process.
That is still something, again, that we, you know, as we continue this journey, as we think about what it means to be more perfect, it's just a great reminder of what it means to participate in the civic process.
And by having a contest like this, you know, kids get to start early to really think about what that means to be American.
I think a great way and it's a fun way to have kids get involved.
Can you tell us what are you looking for in a winning submission?
I think authenticity more than anything.
I think, again, everyone's story is so different.
Everyone's perspective is so different on what America means to you.
America means very different things to very different people.
So I think for anyone who wants to participate, it really is thinking about kind of this personal message about what it means to them, what it might mean to their family, what it might mean to their communities.
And to have parents involved is really important.
You know, obviously, you have to have an adult in order to participate.
And so whether it's your parent, whether it's your teacher, you know, kind of having those conversations that perhaps we as a family, we as a community, we as a country never really had before.
This is really that great way to kind of plant the seeds and really think about, you know, again, from the kids perspective, what this honor is to be American.
And again, hopefully inspire them to think about their future and kind of visualize their future more than anything.
I love how you talk about this could spark a good conversation.
And honestly, that's what people say a lot when they listen to KID News is that, you know, the stories that we mentioned spark really good conversations, which I think is so important in this day and age.
And also, you know, for parents to look, I remember the bicentennial.
I was I was almost 11 years old.
And I remember very clearly, you know, taking all those kind of great history lessons in fourth and fifth grade.
I remember every patriotic song.
But I remember clearly more than anything, I remember July 4th, 1976.
And, you know, my parents came from Mexico in 1958.
And they landed in Hayward, California, because my dad was a seasonal migrant worker at the Hunts Tomato Factory.
And here's my mom who my dad returned to Mexico.
My mom wanted to stay in the U .S.
and raise all nine of us kids and somehow send all nine of us off to college.
And so that feeling that I had, it's not just a memory.
It's actually a feeling of that very cloudy night on July 4th, 1976, but those fireworks were never brighter.
I just felt so grateful to my mom who wanted to invest in us with a great education, with our village.
But more than anything, I just felt like I had the whole future in front of me and that anything was possible.
And I want my kids to feel that.
I want all our kids to feel that.
People ask me all the time, how do you know you're going to be successful in 2026?
My answer remains the same.
I want as many Americans as possible to feel like this is the land of opportunity all over again.
It sounds like you've got a great vision and a great plan to participate.
And you talk about the places that some of these winners can go.
There's a lot of options for where the students can go on their field trips.
Yeah, absolutely. So we include, as I mentioned, you know, the National Park Service has been such a great partner.
And so you can choose anywhere from, you know, Yellowstone National Park or even Angel Island or Fort Point in San Francisco.
Mexico, Mesa Verde National Park.
This year, we have the Kennedy Space Center with NASA, which is so exciting.
We also have the National Archives and the Smithsonian National Zoo who are participating.
And the Library of Congress has always also been just a great, great partner, and including everything from Mount Rushmore to the Alamo to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.
So lots of great field trips for these kids to choose from.
It's up to them which ones they want to do and and all of them start this summer so again that deadline to submit is april 16th you can go to america 250 .org slash field trips and learn all about what we offer again there's lesson plans with the discovery education for teachers for educators and then
again it's just a great way for for parents and for students to kind of bond over this kind of mutual interest of you know kind of looking back at our history but also again looking forward and who we want to be in the next 50, 100, 250 years.
Yeah, I know. Wouldn't we like to be part of that, the 500th celebration.
So quickly, I mentioned at the top that teachers of the winners earn a prize as well, right?
That's right. So for the different categories of grades for elementary, junior and high school, there's a point system.
And so the highest scoring points, a teacher will get a thousand dollar cash prize for those categories of grades.
So yes, we're really excited to reward teachers as well.
Well, that's they certainly deserve it.
So is there any other ways that you know for kids to mark the US semi quincentennial?
Oh, we have many ways, many, many ways for the kids to mark the semi quincentennial.
So you'll be hearing a lot more about this, we've already previewed some of them.
So for example, you could already go to our website at america50 .org.
And you can parents and with their families can submit a video through America's Invitation.
And in this video, you can talk about your own memories of the Bicentennial.
Maybe it's your suggestions for 2026.
You can also go to AmericanDivinity .org and nominate whose story you think should be preserved in perpetuity at the Library of Congress.
You can go to that now with Our American Story.
So lots of ways to get involved, lots of ways to engage parents, communities.
We want this to be as grassroots as possible.
Sea to Shining Sea.
This isn't just about D .C.
This isn't just about Philadelphia.
This isn't just about the 13 colonies.
What I say is this is from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between.
And from, you know, my own memories of Hayward, California, we really want everyone to feel like this is their commemoration and celebration.
Well, you've done a great job telling us all about it.
And once again, do you want to share that website for people to get more information?
Absolutely. It's americat250 .org.
You can look at America's field trip at americat250 .org slash field trips.
And you could also again, submit your essay, your poem, your piece of art by April 16th.
Okay, certainly appreciate your time and all your energy.
So good luck. And hopefully we can talk to you again before the actual July 4th, 2026.
Oh, you know it anytime.
All right. We are going to take a break and we are going to be talking to a past winner of America's field trip contest, who's also a Kid News fan.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
Today's Kid News Convos episode is brought to you in part by a generous grant from the Nicholas B.
Ottoway Foundation, committed to improving communities and impacting lives through three unique philanthropic efforts focused on education, journalism, and community impact.
We are grateful for their support and the support of all our generous donors.
And we're back with more Kid News Convos.
I'm Tori. we're talking about the nationwide contest, America's Field Trip.
And joining me now is a previous winner, Milo, who is a fifth grader from Charleston, South Carolina.
First of all, Milo, welcome to Kid News Convos.
It's so great to talk with you.
Yeah, it's nice to meet you, too.
Do you remember, how did you hear about this contest, America's Field Trip?
Yeah, typically my mom tells me about wedding contests that I might want it into.
and this contest sounded, yeah, America 250 sounded by far the best.
Not just because I wanted the awesome prize to Yellowstone, but also because I really like American history.
Fabulous. So what was the process of deciding how to answer the question, what does America mean to you?
I decided to connect American history to topics in chemistry.
Also taking a chemistry class that I really enjoyed.
that analogies are the best way to get people to remember your essay.
Wow. That's fascinating.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you did that?
I compared America to being an alloy.
Yeah, made up of a bunch of different metals that's stronger than just the metal by itself.
That is fabulous. And how did you react when you heard that you won?
I knew the grand prize was a once -in -a -lifetime opportunity, and I knew so many people would be in touring.
So I tried to not get my hopes up.
I just, I was jumping around.
I was super happy. I was grinning the whole day.
That's fabulous. And so where did you go for your field trip?
What did you do? I decided on Yellowstone because it was completely unlike anything I've ever seen and done.
Also, I really liked the national parks.
You have something you're holding in your lap.
Can you describe what you have?
Yes. Yes. During the trip, I got some souvenirs, and one of them was Quincy the bison.
Did you see some real bison there?
Yes, I did. I saw hundreds of bison.
And I got to see wolves, which show very well in Yellowstone.
Wow, that's great. Oh, and not just wildlife, but we also saw geysers, like Old Faithful, which were also awesome to see erupt.
You think it's worth it for kids to enter this contest?
Absolutely. I would say to enter, to take a chance, and the worst thing that happens is they don't win, and you never know.
I didn't think I would win, and I was super surprised.
So Milo, I know your mom, Casey, is sitting next to you, and she also got to go on this field trip, but Casey, I wanted to ask you a question.
What did you enjoy about this experience?
I think as a parent, not only is it just so gratifying to have this opportunity to spend one -on -one with my child, but I was also off mom duty where everything was planned and taken care of for us.
So I could focus on enjoying this experience and, you know, just being incredibly proud of what my son accomplished.
And it was a once in a lifetime trip for both of us and something we'll remember for the rest of our lives for sure.
That's fantastic. So you would encourage other parents to to have their kids enter?
Definitely. There are I mean, it is a prize for the parents as well.
the one tricky part is only one adult gets to go with the winner so there's there might be some negotiating involved between moms and dads or other uh grown -up guardians so I was the winner in that contest and it was just an all -around amazing experience so I'm sorry so go ahead Mylo?
Yes, I think one of the best parts about the trip to Yellowstone was that I got to meet some of the other winners and I really enjoyed making friends with them.
I think that made the trip even better.
Well, I sound like it was a well -deserved prize and hopefully you've inspired lots of other kids to enter as well.
So thank you for talking with us, Mylo.
Thank you. Thank you for talking to me.
So again, the deadline to submit for America's Field Trip is April 16th, nearly two months away, but coming up fast.
So again, a big thank you to Milo, his mother, Casey, and also Ms.
Rosie Rios for joining me on Kid News Convos.
For more information on America's Field Trip, you can go to americat250 .org slash field trips or find a link on our website.
And if you have any thoughts for a future Convos topic, please let us know at wehearyouatkidnews .org.
Have a great day. Thank you.
