Fifth graders shoot for field trip fun at UNG basketball game

For one day, the fifth graders at all three of Lumpkin County’s elementary schools had their curriculum slightly modified from the classic “Three R’s” to something a little more sweat-inducing.
Running, rebounding and rally cries.
The University of North Georgia hosted its second Fifth Graders Day Out event last Tuesday. And for Maddox Davis, that meant lots of fun.
“I was very excited,” Maddox said of the moment he realized he would be getting to watch basketball during the school day. “Yesterday I was very excited and telling my parents how excited I was about going to this field trip and I feel like UNG has a really good basketball team.”
The field trip included a tour of the Dahlonega UNG campus, a meal in the dining hall and the grand finale, a ticket to watch the UNG Men’s Basketball team play Toccoa Falls in a game with a special, school-friendly noon tip off.
For Cathy McMullan, a fifth grade teacher at Long Branch Elementary School, this was the perfect shake up.
“This was a different experience for the kids,” McMullan said. “I was surprised when they did a show of hands at the number of kids that had never been on campus before.”
Fellow Long Branch teacher Alex Martin said she felt the exposure to college was good for the students, to help them start thinking about the future early.
“I had quite a few asking ‘So how do we get to come here if we want to come here? So that was good,” Martin said.
As for Reagan Moore, one of Martin’s students who says she does come to UNG quite a bit, she never imagined she’d get to tour the university while at school.
“I didn’t really know that we would have a field trip so soon in the year,” Reagan said. “I was kind of shocked and I wasn’t really excited about the basketball game, but now that we’re here, I do really like it.”
Reagan said what really won her over during the basketball game was the Dance Cam, where the cameras of the Convocation Center would turn to the stands during breaks in the on-court action, highlighting fans with the best dance moves.
“I really like the dancing,” she said. “I’ve been on the dancing camera twice. I don’t really like to dance but it was very fun.”
And while basketball isn’t normally her cup of tea, Reagan found herself getting into the game as well.
“It’s really interesting and we are winning by quite a bit,” she said.
Maddox, on the other hand, needed no convincing that watching a basketball game would make for a fun day. As an avid Hawks fan who loves watching his favorite player, Trae Young, Maddox said when it comes to getting to watch UNG in person, “it’s way better.”
And having all the kids in the house sure seemed to help the Nighthawks on the court as well, as UNG smacked Toccoa Falls 89-57 and set records in the process.
“The entire experience is awesome,” UNG head coach Dan Evans said in a postgame interview with UNG Athletics. “To have so many young people from our community here and having a good time and enjoying themselves and cheering for our guys and our school and program is a pretty unique experience.”
Evans said the Lumpkin fifth graders brought the energy, which can often contribute to a winning effort.
“I think that energy is real and is felt,” he said. “They’re behind our bench and behind our side and you can feel their energy and cheering and the buzz that they create….As we settled down I thought we fed off their energy really well. For us to have the opportunity to connect with our community, and particularly the youth of our community, it’s everything that we want to be about.”
This year’s Fifth Graders Day Out marked the second time UNG has hosted the event for Lumpkin County students.
“We did it pre-COVID, but then didn’t get to do it last year,” McMullan said. “It definitely was a good experience the first time. I was excited after that one that the kids had really enjoyed something that they’d never done before, so this time when we got notification that we were coming, it was a very positive idea so I was glad that we got to do it.”
That notification eventually came from Jason Lemley, who reached out over the summer to see if UNG would be ready to host the event again. Partnering with Morgan May, UNG Athletics’ Marketing and Events Coordinator, the two were able to once again make the event happen.
“I think it's a great connection between the two groups and very well organized,” McMullan added.