As seniors are nervously rushing to apply to colleges, Morton West goes on field trip to Elmhurst University. 15 students were selected to go on the field trip and to become more familiar with the college experience. Elmhurst University, located in Elmhurst, Illinois, stands 30 minutes away from Chicago and is a small Liberal Arts school. Around 4,000 students attended this school in the 2023 school year with only 30% of students living on university-affiliated housing. Elmhurst University is a private university that is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
Founded in 1871, Elmhurst University was originally established to prepare students to become teachers and for religious instruction in seminary. Famous alumni of the university include country music singer Brett Eldredge, archaeologist Joe Seger, former U.S. House of Representatives member George Sangmeister, and 20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
An English teacher at Morton West, chaperone on the field trip, and a 2004 Elmhurst graduate, Mr. Rush, shared that he thought that the field trip was very valuable to the students because it allowed them to be able to see how life is like at a smaller college that is closer to home. Mr. Rush reported that the exposure to Elmhurst will allow students to be more informed when choosing the school they would like to attend.
After the field trip, Ms. Irmen, another chaperone and Elmhurst graduate,
polled the students on who thinks they might attend the college. 5/15 students expressed satisfaction with the school and expressed that they were interested in becoming a student at Elmhurst.
Although satisfied, some students expressed a bit of uncertainty about the school, some saying that is a bit small and far from the city. Some students did say that the field trip was ruined by the gloomy, rainy weather, other students and teachers took the rain as an opportunity to have fun and splash each other. Overall the field trip was successful because the students were given a tour of the campus and were allowed to see class sizes and many more resources and places within the college.
