As the school year comes to an end, physics students and staff alike are eagerly awaiting the long-anticipated return of a beloved tradition: the trip to Silverwood. Though the pandemic barred Liberty from going on the trip, after a three year long hiatus, fifty Liberty students are gearing up to visit the Silverwood theme park in Athol, Idaho on June 2 for a day of thrilling rides, fun experiments, and unforgettable memories.

The trip’s origins are unclear, but science teacher Eleonor Schneider mentions that Liberty wasn’t the first school in the Issaquah School District to go. 

“I’m not sure if Skyline or Liberty initiated it, but Skyline went every year,” Schneider said.

Schneider recalls that a very well known teacher at Liberty, Mark Buchli, though now retired, got the trip initiated for Liberty. Those who remember Buchli know that physics was one of his passions, and a day full of fun experiments and equation solving was right up his alley.

Though there is a lot of anticipation for the trip, there is a lot of planning involved. Coordinating a trip for anywhere from fifty to one hundred students to a theme park some three hundred miles away is no easy feat.

“It is a lot of effort because there’s a lot of expenses and we try to keep it as reasonable as possible for students. Mrs. Lin does a lot of hunting around, trying to get it as inexpensive as we can for students,” Schneider said.

Students that will be participating on this trip can expect an exciting day of riding numerous rides, such as Aftershock, a fast-paced ride that hits a top speed of 65 miles per hour and includes several corkscrews and loops. Another popular ride, Round-Up,  spins its riders in circles at high speeds, allowing them to feel the G-forces acting upon their body. 

After riding these rides, students will analyze their data, such as finding the amount of kinetic energy in the ride, or even the velocity that the ride travels at.

Silverwood is a staple for the physics curriculum, and  this year’s trip will likely rekindle the much-needed joy in the lives of both students and staff alike. Through riding the coasters and collecting data, physics students will realize that, just like  the coasters, their memories too have a high amount of energy.