While Stephen was teaching at Surprise Valley Elementary School, he held a field trip every May for his students and their parents. Â The trip featured swimming, train rides, garden tours, good food, and just an overall fun family day. Â This eventually evolved into all the students from K-8 at the school attending if they made their reading goals. Â Later, after the train was completed in 2004, a train ride was added to the Pumpkin Patch in October. Â Even after Stephen retired, the field trips continued until 2018, for a total of for 27 years.
