The eighth grade trip began a "grand touring day" today with a visit to the Capitol. Afterwards, during both day and night, they visited many of our most famous landmarks:
- the White House (where we saw the Obama girls and Beau playing on the back lawn)
- the World War II Memorial
- the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial
- the Lincoln Memorial
- the Korean War Veteran's Memorial
- the Jefferson Memorial
- the FDR Memorial
- and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
Throughout the trip, tour guides, security guards, and other tourists have commented to us about being moved by the students' knowledge, maturity, and conduct. Many mentioned that the students seemed older than eighth graders.
At the Capitol, students dressed in "Assembly Day" dress - coat and tie for boys and skirts or dresses for girls - and a group got to chat with some congressmen from Florida and North Carolina before a vote. One of the congressmen, commenting on how impressed he was with the students' appearance, said, "I have to step up my [fashion] game!"
Here are the students reciting the Gettysburg Address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a DC trip tradition.
