Hello from Washington D.C.!!
Today we started out with a good breakfast from the Clover Café. We loaded the bus early and headed out toArlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Originally the cemetery was famous General Robert E. Lee’s plantation. The Union decided to bury dead soldiersto plant revenge to the confederate army. And that is how Arlington National Cemetery got started. We saw John F. Kennedy’s grave along with his wife and brother. We saw the eternal flame, which is to represent Jackie’s never-ending love for her husband. In the cemetery also is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Every half hour there is a changing of the guards, which we got to see. After visiting the cemetery we saw the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. The memorial had many waterfalls representing the stages of his presidency. Since Roosevelt had polio and was in a wheelchair, the memorial is handicapped accessible.
After visiting the memorials, we ate lunch at the Clover Café. Next the delegates went to their workshops where we wrote bills about bio fuels, distracted driving, physical education being in schools, and internet regulations. After workshops are committee meetings. Before everyone left we chose committees to be on to help out with the conference. Today the healthy living committee held a derby where delegates got into their workshop groups and played games outside like human fooseball and tug-a-war.
The governance in youth committee held a town hall meeting where we split into groups and discussed many of today’s controversial topics. Many of the delegates had fun debating topics such as abortion, the right to bear arms, and legalizing marijuana. After the town hall everyone enjoyed dinner at the clover café. Then our delegate group made action plans. The first plan was to make an ideal first date. Then we made a list of issues that affect our lives and made action plans to achieve a goal to help the community.
Tomorrow we are going to Capitol Hill, which will be a whole new experience for us so we had a little orientation about what to expect. Now everyone is enjoying our limited free time that we have before bed. But some of us are going to bed early since we have to be on the bus at 6:30 in the morning!! We have a very busy day tomorrow so I am signing out!
Katie Taylor
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