On Sunday, January 14, 42 seniors embarked on a trip through Washington D.C. with the Close-Up foundation. Close-Up is a nonprofit organization that aims to educate students on the importance of democracy in the United States and the history of the current government.
The girls spent the week working alongside students from all over the United States to learn more about our country’s government. They toured the iconic monuments and museums, while building connections with new people. The group was split into workshops that contained people from different schools and spent the entire week with that workshop.
The week began with a tour of the National Mall, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Here, students discussed the basic values of the United States and got to see some of the main places in the nation’s capital.
“The first day it snowed a lot, which was cool, but we also learned a lot about the basic ideals of our country,” senior Christina Herran said. “This was actually MLK day, so visiting his memorial was a perfect way to honor all he did for our country.”
On Tuesday, the group toured the World War 2, Lincoln, Korean and Vietnam War Memorials. They also participated in a Seminar with Jessica Leung from the WWF. She discussed the mission of the foundation and everything citizens can do to help the environment.
At the end of the day, students held a mock Congress session, where they argued and debated over current issues, such as minimum wage and gun rights.
“The mock Congress was one of my favorite parts of the trip because it showed me how a real Congressional session would go and was a perfect introduction for meeting our representatives,” senior Carolina Timiraos said.
On Wednesday, the seniors were able to visit Capitol Hill as a school and meet representatives for Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, Florida’s senators. Students posed questions on current events to the representatives and gained valuable insight on how Congress works.
On their last day as a group, Close-Up participants visited the White House and Arlington National Cemetery, where they experienced the changing of the guards. They also had the opportunity to hear from Stephanie Gagnon, the Senior Manager at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
“Overall, this week was the perfect way for me to not only get to work with my workshop to learn about how to be a good citizen and everything that goes on in our government, but also to open my eyes to people of different backgrounds and their opinions,” Herran said.
