GRAND HAVEN, MI - After dipping her toes into a crisp Lake Michigan for the first time, Ashyis Person ran back to the beach to dig her feet into the sand to warm them up.

"This is the best field trip ever," she said excitedly. "I want to come back and go swimming."

Person took in the view of Lake Michigan from the beach of Rosy Mound Natural Area. In the distance, she saw the red lighthouse at Grand Haven State Park.

Person, along with 49 of her classmates from Campus Elementary, visited Rosy Mound on Wednesday, May 3 on a field trip. For many of the students, it was their first time ever seeing Lake Michigan.

John Helmholdt, director of external affairs with Grand Rapids Public Schools, estimates that up to 80 to 85 percent of GRPS students in the 5th grade have never seen Lake Michigan.

"Some students in the city have barely been outside their own city or neighborhood," he said. "There are transportation, time and money limitations that restrict the ability of a student to access Lake Michigan.

"We are all about equity and inclusion and taking down barriers so our children have the same equal opportunity as students in more affluent districts."

GRPS teamed up with Open Systems Technologies about five years ago to start the field trips to give students more access to nature and hands-on learning. OST works with GRPS often on different initiatives, but this by far is the largest project that has come out of the partnership.

"It's a powerful experience," said Michael Lomonoco, director of marketing a OST, a Grand Rapids-based tech company. "That's the beauty of it, at its face, it's the simplicity of the idea. We want kids to get to Lake Michigan. It has tremendous impact."

Fifth-grade students go on field trips every fall and spring, at the beginning and end of the school year.

When the field trips began, just three schools participated. Next fall, all 27 GRPS elementary schools will participate in the field trips.

George Jaeger, a naturalist at Rosy Mound, led a group of 11 students along with their teacher, Shawn Pitsch, through the park, stopping along the way to show the kids different plants and trees.

As the class walked the paths that wind through the park, Jaeger focused on succession of the sand dunes, or the way that the ecosystem of the dunes change over time.

Once the group made it to the water, though, learning came to a halt in favor of running around and discovering.

Some students collected beach grass, some found needles from white pines and others picked wild flowers to take home. Person said she plans on pressing needles and flowers into a journal.

The 47-degree water didn't deter the kids from splashing around. For seven of the 11 kids in the group, it was the first time they had ever seen the lake in person.

"There is more to life than what (the students) experience every day," said Lomonoco. "We want them to know that there's a community here to support them and guide them and to inspire them to do great things."

Though many of the students were reluctant to leave, many said they are already planning a return trip when it's warmer, so they can go swimming.

"This is the best field trip ever," said Kareese Griffin as he dried of his feet in the sand. "I wish we could stay here forever."