The Roosevelt Center was filled with children playing and eating picnic lunches together, as the Old Greenbelt Theatre welcomed nearly 100 Greenbelt Elementary School third-graders last week. Since the pandemic, the theater has provided field trips to Greenbelt Elementary grade-level groups including third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, two Springhill Lake groups of mixed ages and a group from Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS).
The theater’s Stephenie Arcido, director of operations, and Lauren Rankel, education coordinator, explained the value of field trips: “It’s a very different experience to leave the classroom and participate in an activity. Students participate in the community and pay attention in a different way. They interact differently walking here through the neighborhood.” One student commented, “It was worth it, walking for 30 minutes and then coming in here to relax.”
Arcido pointed out that Creative Kids Camp and Camp Pine Tree kids visit the theater, and there are opportunities on Thursdays during the summer to come and see free animated films. “This is our community and the Roosevelt Center is also yours,” she told the kids.
The historic cinema is a unique learning environment, a “light history lesson” because its restored appearance is so similar to how it looked in 1939. Director Caitlin McGrath plans to add a Greenbelt history timeline to the theater’s media lab, as well as wayfinder information in conjunction with the Greenbelt Museum, so that folks who visit the theater can then find their way to other historic sites around Greenbelt. Staff are also developing a scavenger hunt to engage Greenbelt Elementary students as they encounter the tunnel under Hillside Road, Firefly Sanctuary, Stream Valley Park, volunteer fire department, tennis courts, Braden Field and much more.
Greenbelt Elementary third-graders watched Disney Nature: Dolphins. Disney provides a prepared curriculum and offers films about pollinators, life cycles and other topics that match up with the school’s curriculum. When Springhill Lake Elementary School students visited the theater at the beginning of May, they chose to watch Minions as a behavior award. “They saved their points and voted to choose the movie,” Arcido pointed out.
Ninety ERHS juniors came to watch Just Mercy, based on the 2014 non-fiction book by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. “The ability to watch the full movie without interruption and process it together afterwards is a better experience overall. I’m hoping to do this again in the future with other books,” ERHS English teacher Abigail Holtz commented. “There is inherently more buy-in in the theater,” added teacher Amie Littman.
Theater staff organized a Q&A with speaker Alexander Campbell II, a former ERHS student who is part of several different networks seeking justice for incarcerated and returning citizens. Rankel said, “We have received a gift today to be here in community together, to hear Mr. Campbell vulnerably and honestly share his experience. I hope this stays with you for a long time.”
“This is the best school trip ever,” one teacher was overheard to say.