GREEN RIVER – Fifth graders from Harrison and Monroe Elementary Schools raced through Downtown Green River Tuesday morning in Sweetwater County School District No. 2’s version of “The Amazing Race.”
At the start of the school year, students were challenged to learn the 50 states, their capitals and where they are located on a map. The reward was participating in the schools’ version of “The Amazing Race,” a reality TV series where teams of two race around the world performing tasks to win $1 million.
With the help of local businesses, this exhilarating race around town was a huge success. Students were placed in small groups and given clues to downtown businesses. Once at the business, the students performed a task or learned about that business before moving on to the next location.
Despite the blustery weather, dark skies, and some snowfall, the students laughed and ran from business to business as they figured out their clues. They buffed panels from torn apart vehicles, arranged floral bouquets at Rose Floral, learned about water safety and got to throw the water bags search and rescue volunteers use to rescue someone stuck in water.
At the museum, they learned about older objects like an abacus and a landline phone.
“Wow! This is actually really cool,” one student was overheard saying.
At the Sweetwater County Library, they went on a Star Wars scavenger hunt, while at White Mountain Lumber they ran around the store finding ducks. At Arctic Circle, they raced to separate a box of sauces. The students went through five clues with their respective businesses and then broke for lunch at the park.
After the wind whipped their hair and the snow fell on their sandwiches, the students were back at it with five clues left to go. At city hall, they learned about the two types of city governments, while at Red White Buffalo they painted on tiles and learned to work a crime scene at the Green River Police Department. The students also visited Riverside Nursery, the PawSpa and Twisted Timber.
