MONTE VISTA— Fourth grade teacher Colleen Vanderpool went into the “shark tank” on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 11. That is she walked into the board of education meeting to the theme song of the popular TV show “Shark Tank” seeking the board’s approval to take the fourth grade class on an overnight field trip to the Denver Museum of Natural History and the Denver Zoo.

Vanderpool explained the benefits of the trip. “These students get to go into three 50-minute long sessions that give them hands-on experimenting and learning with things like space, health and animals. After that they have an extra hour that they can go throughout the rest of the museum to look at the other exhibits they didn’t see…” said Vanderpool. They will also get to view an IMAX theater presentation.

Vanderpool said that many of the fourth grade students have not yet had a trip to the capitol of Colorado. “We feel like this would be the field trip of a lifetime for many of them,” she said.

The Denver Museum of Natural History is dropping the bill by nearly half for the Monte Vista students. This is thanks to Bill Metz Principal Gabe Futrell writing a letter explaining the economics of the Monte Vista community and school district. Vanderpool said they are problem-solving and are working on sponsorships and fundraising for the students to be able to go on the field trip.

An upcoming idea will be a read-a-thon in which sponsors will give a small donation by the students pledging to read for 30-minute sessions.

The trip will also be used as an incentive to motivate students to study harder for the state standardized tests according to Vanderpool.

The Monte Vista Board of Education gave their approval for Vanderpool to move forward with the plans to prepare and fundraise for the field trip.