AMERICUS — After weeks of scheduling preparation by Sumter County Primary School Principal Valerie Duff and her fine arts team, three school buses were boarded at 6:30 a.m. March 6. This voyage by 100 second-graders and their chaperones was the first of two planned for the students.

Pleasant weather greeted the Sumter County entourage in Atlanta after threats of morning rain. Last year, the trip met with such acclaim by students and parents of Sumter Primary that Duff decided to change the site itinerary and increase the number of students who would enjoy “the other Georgia.” Scheduled this year were visits to CNN Center, the Georgia Aquarium, The 7 Stages Theatre, The Old Spaghetti Factory, the Center For Puppetry Arts, The High Museum, a rest in the Centennial Olympic Park and an overnight rest in Lithonia’s Marriott Fairfield Inn. The same itinerary will be enjoyed on the second trip scheduled for this weekend, March 13-14.

Diverse entertainment and culinary offerings were planned by the Sumter Primary Fine Arts Academy team. The world news coverage of CNN thrilled the technology minded of the second-graders. At their overnight rest, CNN was the station of choice. The 7 Stages Theater was small, but students enjoyed close-up association with the productions performers. The spectacular Georgia Aquarium again thrilled students as it did in the 2007 trip by Sumter Primary.

New on the travel agenda this year was the Center for Puppetry Arts. The dazzling production caught the imagination of an audience filled with students from throughout Atlanta and a host of Center patrons. Duff said that this addition to the agenda may become a regular for her students from Sumter Primary.

Students learned much about a night away from home as they shared rooms with their chaperones in a busy hotel. The next morning, these students enjoyed learning to prepare their own breakfast from a cornucopia of morning foods.

In total contrast from the glamour and menu of The Old Spaghetti Factory, the world-famous Varsity Drive in downtown Atlanta, offered a very different food environment to students. Hungry youngsters and adults from Sumter Primary Fine Arts Academy enjoyed some of the more than two miles of hot-dogs, ton of onion rings, 2,500 pounds of fresh-cut potatoes and 5,000 homemade fried pies, prepared daily, that have fed many fast food guests. During a Georgia Tech football game, The Varsity claims to feed over 30,000 people on game day. As a token of their visit, each student was presented a “Varsity” cap. They later wore these hats and posed for a picture that may soon be added to The Varsity website.

The planned itinerary was demanding on all who traveled to Atlanta but was certainly worth the efforts that Duff and her teachers had prepared for student enjoyment.