How students could win trip to iconic national landmark

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is on July 4, 2026. To help get the country and its youngest citizens ready, a nationwide contest is being held for students with a chance to win one of dozens of trips to historic and cultural landmarks.

To enter the contest, students in third through 12th grade need to answer the question: What does America mean to you?

“We wanted to start with students because we want to inspire families, we want to make sure that parents, teachers, communities and neighborhoods feel like this is their commemoration, their celebration,” sad Rosie Rios, chair of America250, which operates under a congressional bipartisan commission formed to commemorate the 250th anniversary.

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Rios, who says the bicentennial in 1976 was a meaningful experience in her youth, wants her kids to be inspired in the way that celebration made her feel.

Students in elementary school can submit artwork or a short essay, middle school students can submit artwork or a video and high school students can submit an essay or a video.

“(It’s) a great opportunity for students to share their feelings and their thoughts and to be thinking about that, but a great way to tie in local communities. Because, let’s say, a teacher does it in her classroom with all of her students, they can submit that, but they’re not all going to win. But if they share with their local library or their historical organization that artwork or what those students did, that would be a ready-made exhibit or something for the community to showcase those students and start that discussion of ‘What is America?’ and thinking about the semiquincentennial,” Amy Bradfield, co-chair for America250MI state committee, said.

For any student who is working on this contest and is looking for some inspiration, Bradfield and Rios have some advice. Bradfield said to talk to someone in your community, like a librarian, or think about your community’s unique history.

“(Going) to local historical organizations or museums and finding out about the history of their town that might resonate with that child and make them think about ‘Oh, OK, this is what it means to be American and this is why it’s important to me,'” Bradfield said.

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She said it’s also a good idea to think about what you love about your community and how that connects to the bigger, national story.

Rios, who is a first-generation American, said to think about your American story.

“Everyone has an American story. My parents have their own American story, and then there’s my American story about what it felt like to learn the patriotic songs to be able to participate,” Rios said. “…(Think about) what it means to pursue their own American Dream, and what our forefathers and foremothers had to go through to give us the freedoms we enjoy today.”

Submissions are due May 17 and must be uploaded by a teacher, parent or legal guardian.

AWARDS HOPE TO ENCOURAGE ‘DISCOVERING THE COUNTRY’

Winners will be selected by a third-party contest administrator. Twenty-five first-place award winners from each grade level will receive free travel and lodging for a three-day, day-night trip to one of the following historical or cultural sites:

• Tour of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

• Tour and hike at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana.

• Weekend at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

• Unique tours at the National Archives or the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

• Special tours at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, National Museum of African American History and Culture, or the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

• New York City, with private tours of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Museum and Learning Center and The Bank of New York Mellon, the country’s oldest bank.

• Experience the National Parks of Boston with a special visit to the USS Constitution and a sunset cruise to Spectacle Island.

• Candlelight tour at Fort Point at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.

• Costumed roleplaying experience at American Village in Alabama.

“Those award recipients, those students who are selected to be able to participate in these field trips, get to literally choose from these backstage excursions. And the beauty of having the National Parks Service as part of our commission is that they have the ability to curate these experiences that most haven’t been offered to the public before,” Rios explained.

All second-place award winners will receive $500 and the teacher associated with the top-scoring student from each grade level will receive $1,000.

This contest is a pilot program. Rios says that the commission hopes to discover what resonates with kids and expand what is offered to them, including making America’s Field Trip a full school year activity.

“What we’re trying to do is democratize discovering our country all over again. Not just the history but also the present and, again thinking about kids, inspiring the future,” Rios said.

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