When Chase Street Elementary School third grader Maya Shrivastav attended a presentation and play in 2015 at the University of Georgia, she never dreamed that in 10 years she would be on stage as a UGA student performing in that same production. Nor could she have imagined that one of her former third grade teachers would be in the audience to cheer her on.

“It was a full-circle moment. It’s really great to see how everything I’ve done since third grade has led me here,” said Shrivastav, now a first-year UGA student majoring in international affairs, political science and ceramics.

Both Shrivastav and the students at her former school — now named Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary — came to UGA’s campus through Experience UGA field trips. The Experience UGA program is a longstanding partnership between UGA’s Office of Service-Learning and the Clarke County School District that provides annual field trips to campus. The trips are connected to the CCSD grade level standards and introduce pre-K through 12th grade students to a wide variety of opportunities at UGA.

This year’s third grade trip was funded by a grant from AthFest Educates, a nonprofit organization that funds arts education for students in Athens-Clarke County.

“It’s really cool that UGA has this program,” Shrivastav said. “There are so many opportunities for things to do on this campus. I hope they got from the trip that they can choose what they want to do for their future, and they don’t have to settle for just one thing.”

Traveling across campus

Experience UGA provides students with interactive learning experiences ranging from learning about plants and animals at the Trial Gardens and Mary Kahrs Warnell Garden’s “turtle pond,” to discovering forest ecosystems in the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and observing archival Georgia history. The trips also connect CCSD and UGA students, giving younger students a firsthand account of what it’s like to be a UGA student.

The Experience UGA program was launched in 2013 after a yearlong discussion between UGA and CCSD. Supported by university resources and private funding, the program introduces students from CCSD’s 21 schools to a variety of career paths on campus.

“This is the 13th school year of Experience UGA, so the students who began attending trips in pre-K are now seniors in high school,” said Josh Podvin, assistant director for community partnerships in the Office of Service-Learning. “It shows a real commitment between the university and CCSD to find ways to bring students to campus, expose them to a wide variety of career options and help bring the things they are learning in school to life.”

Through the 90 Experience UGA trips last school year, more than 7,500 CCSD students came to campus and interacted with over 1,700 UGA students. In 2024, the program was honored with the 2024 International Town & Gown Association Presidential Excellence Award.

“The Experience UGA trips are designed to highlight the standards covered in CCSD’s curriculum, and they bring a workforce-ready mindset to what students are learning,” Podvin said. “Each year when they step on campus, local kiddos are exposed to a wide variety of career options — from fine arts and theater to agriculture and science.”

Experience UGA trips are coordinated by student leaders in the Experience UGA Ambassadors program, student volunteers and trip partners from more than 40 departments across campus.

“What I enjoy most about Experience UGA is the people, and it really takes a village,” said Aiyana Egins, Experience UGA’s coordinator. “Everyone involved in these trips, from teachers to ambassadors to our trip partners, comes together to inspire students in our community.”

A playful play

The third grade field trip — which Shrivastav both attended and helped host — is conducted in partnership with the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of theatre and film studies. Each year, the department produces a program with UGA students performing musical numbers about life in film and theatre, a faculty member presenting about film special effects and students performing a “Play About Plays” to showcase behind-the-scenes roles.

In connection with CCSD’s third grade learning standards, the program culminates in a children’s play. This year’s performance was “Commedia Puss ’N Boots.”

Dina Canup, the academic advisor and student support and outreach coordinator in the department of theatre and film, has helped arrange the third grade Experience UGA trip for years.

“Experience UGA is special for me, and it’s one of my favorite things I do. These kids have the best time,” Canup said. “When I found out one of the cast members had attended the field trip, I got tears in my eyes. This day finally came! It means a lot to everyone here. We want them to see themselves on stage.”

After the program concluded, Shrivastav visited with the third graders from her former elementary school, answering their questions and letting them know of the pathways available to them. She also saw one of her third grade teachers, Heather Sitler, who taught Shrivastav and her two younger siblings. Sitler is now an enrichment collaborator at Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary School.

“That was like wow! This is huge,” Shrivastav said. “I had really great teachers in CCSD who helped me realize I can do a lot of things, and I’m not restricted to one thing.”

Her teacher was excited to experience the full circle moment as well.

“It was exciting to see her on the UGA stage with our current third graders in the audience and to share with them that she was a student at our school, and moreover, that she moved away and chose to come back to Athens to attend UGA,” Sitler said. “It may sound cliche, but that was one of those moments that teachers love to experience — to see that a former student is thriving and in a way that may just inspire the next generation of scholars.”

Writing by: Kristen Linthicum
Photography by: Dorothy Kozlowski
Video by: Krista McKinney and Kennedy Reid