Seattle middle-schoolers visit Moses Lake, hold scavenger hunt

University Prep students visit teacher's former hometown

MOSES LAKE - If Sinkiuse Square looked overrun by middle school students Tuesday afternoon, that's because it was.

About 63 students from Seattle-based University Prep were on the prowl for a scavenger hunt as part of a several days long trip to commemorate their graduation.

Also during the students' trip, they visited the Vantage Wild Horse solar project and Gingko Petrified Forest.

The students are reading "The Iliad," and met with Moses Lake resident and veteran Bob West to hear about war, explained teacher Alma (Garcia) Andrade.

"And I'm from Moses Lake, so I thought, 'It's a small town, we can keep them somewhat controlled,'" Andrade said. "They're also working on their eighth-grade graduation speech and their art project. They'll be graduated in a month."

Andrade lived in Moses Lake for 21 years.

"I love sharing my hometown with my kids," she said, also pointing to her fellow teachers. "Traveling with 65 kids, it's hard."

The students comprised the entire eighth-grade class for the preparatory school.

Other Moses Lake locations on the itinerary included Woody's, Chico's Pizza and bowling.

"They went swimming yesterday in the lake," she said. "Even though it was cold, they didn't care. Overall, it's been good."

Andrade said the teachers were in town during spring vacation, and determined which items the students would be taking pictures of.

The students ended at Tacos el Rey for dinner Tuesday evening.

Many of them had never been to Moses Lake before, Andrade said.

Student Jack Kelly said his teacher talks about Moses Lake often.

"She's from here and she talks about it a lot," he said. "She said it would be a total change. She said she had a really good experience here."

It was Kelly's first time in Moses Lake.

"It's a pretty interesting town," he said. "A whole lot different from Seattle. It seems kind of spread out."

"It really isn't for any academic reason," student Sofia Dawson explained of the trip. "It's the end of middle school."

"It's for moving up," agreed student Priyanka Jain.

"It's just kind of a last class bonding," Dawson continued.

"It's a nice little town," Jain said.

"I really like it, everyone's really friendly here," Dawson said. "It's a lot smaller, definitely, but it's really nice. The lake is really pretty."

"Everybody's been really friendly, which is not always the case when you take out 65 kids into a smaller town," said teacher Judy Ghavamian. "Everybody's been very kind and receptive."