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| Students - overcome with exhaustion - nap at a memorial |
If yesterday was crazy – which it was – then today must
could be described in no way other than absolutely insane. After final room
checks last night at 11:00pm, the students were woken back up at 6:00am. Our
trusty intern (aka me) stayed up a bit too late and decided it would be a smart
idea to get up about a half hour before wake-up call to get some final work
done before another busy day. All this resulted in alarms being turned off for
a few more minutes of sleep – which then escalated to about an extra two hours.
Whoops! For now, we’ll strip the “extraordinaire” from his title.
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| Having a good time at Youth Day! |
During my extended snooze, the students grabbed breakfast at
the hotel and then got seated in the convention room at the Hyatt. After I was
finally ready to go for the day, I made my way downstairs and heard – quite loudly
– the sound of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” Hearing this immediately
alerted my other senses and my eyes became fixed on the TV displaying the
happenings of Youth Day. The first thing I saw this morning was, in fact, NRECA
CEO and former Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson dancing on stage with more than
1,600 Youth Tour students to “Party in the USA.”
What a start to the morning!
The students listened to many speakers at Youth Day, and the
keynote address was delivered by Mike Schlappi. His speech was moving, to say
the least.
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| Iowa's YLC Representative Susan Schwickerath |
After Youth Day, all of the students headed to the National
Mall except for our phenomenal YLC representative – Susan Schwickerath. She had
lunch with the rest of the YLC representatives. We are so extremely proud of
Susan and excited to have her represent all of us on the Youth Leadership
Council. Susan is from Hawkeye Rural Electric Cooperative. After her engagement
with the YLC I took her on her first ever public transportation ride down the
Yellow Line to meet the rest of the group at the National Mall.
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| Posing for one of many group photos This one is at the Jefferson Memorial |
After spending a few hours on the National Mall we all
headed over to the Tidal Basin to do a long, interesting tour of the Martin
Luther King, Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and World War II
Memorials along with the Washington Monument. Talk about a LOT of walking!
The students then got to see the National Air Force Memorial
and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial – a missed stop from
Saturday.
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| Students discover - and I learn how to capture - the jumping shot Here at the National Air Force Memorial |
Afterwards, we all relaxed a bit and grabbed dinner at Union
Station. We then walked up to the US Capitol to listen to a wonderful performance
by the US Navy Band before heading to the White House for a group photo.
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| And the officially patented "Youth Tour Jump Shot" at the US Capitol |
Finally – after logging over ten miles of walking – we made
it back to the hotel to call it a night at 10:00pm. A bit earlier than last
night, but it seems that everyone is absolutely exhausted. We (hopefully
including myself) are going to call it a night and be back up at 6:45am for
another full day!
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