WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Oct. 31, educators Jeremy Brady and Joy Rohde led 65 Coleman ninth grade students, parents and adult community members on a tour of Washington, D.C.
On the way, the group stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania. Attendees enjoyed learning more about Flight 93 by visiting the memorial, especially after watching the film “Flight 93” on the way down. Students mentioned that it was powerful to hear the actual voices of the people on the plane who sacrificed their lives.
Upon arrival in Washington, D.C., the Coleman group visited the White House, the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial as part of the night tour. Students marveled at the size of the memorials.
Nick Wutkowski stated, “My favorite part of the Washington, D.C. trip is the Washington Monument. You really don’t realize how big it is until you are right up next to it. It looked really cool at night, all lit up.”
Day two in D.C. brought attendees to the Pentagon Memorial, U.S. Capitol Tour, the Natural History Smithsonian, the American History Smithsonian and a walking tour of Alexandria.
Next, day three included the Vietnam Wall, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial in the morning.
In the afternoon, the group toured much of the Mount Vernon estate and saw the many, many inventions and entrepreneurial ventures that George Washington partook in.
They ended the evening with a dinner-and-dance cruise on the Potomac River before stopping by the Lincoln and Korean Memorials again to see them from a different perspective at night.
Brock Fiedorowicz mentioned, “The Lincoln Memorial is absolutely stunning at night. The lights glistening off the reflecting pool, with the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol in the background, were amazing. Overall, my time in D.C. was great, but the Lincoln Memorial truly stood out as one of the best sites of the trip.”
For many students, visiting the Holocaust Museum was very eye-opening and the highlight of the day.
Becket Meyer and Marshall Nowak both mentioned that their favorite part of the trip was visiting the Holocaust Museum and learning about the stories of those who lived through WWII. They wished that everyone had more time to spend at the museum.
Keegan Graef said about the Holocaust, “It was horrifying seeing how truly brutal it was for the victims.”
On the last day in D.C., everyone visited the Arlington National Cemetery, saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and J.F. Kennedy’s eternal flame and visited the Iwo Jima and FDR Memorials before leaving for the two-day trip home.
This was one of Karen Patske-Altimirano’s favorite stops, “Watching the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was very cool and inspiring. I loved it so much that I videoed the whole thing.”
Overall, the students had an amazing trip and the adult chaperones made it run smoothly, providing a great educational opportunity for the Coleman ninth graders.
The American Legion, Lions Club and Piggly Wiggly in Coleman donated money to help pay for students’ trips and covered a meal for them, which was greatly appreciated. The event planners thanked the organizations and shared that Piggly Wiggly will be doing a roundup, so please consider helping to support this trip.
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