Monday, June 17th, 2019
There were a lot of long, tired
faces in the lobby this morning. However, after breakfast, coffee, and a little
bus choir practice, everyone perked up. Rob drove us to the Lincoln Memorial
after breakfast at Crystal City Sports Pub.
The Lincoln Memorial and the Korean
Memorial are near each other. We visited both and took many pictures. While at
the Lincoln Memorial, the United States Marine Corps were having drill
practice. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where some of our
country's greatest leaders have stood, is such a historical view of our nation
that gives you chills (even when it’s 90 degrees and humid).
Since it was very windy our first
day, Shelly was able to reschedule our paddle boat rides on the Tidal Basin.
The students loaded the paddle boats and spent the better part of an hour on
the water. For anyone that thinks paddle boating is easy, think again. It’s a
workout! Everyone was getting their daily dose of sunshine today!
From the paddle boats, we spent the
better part of the day in small groups touring The National Mall. The National
Mall is the location of Washington D.C.’s most popular museums like the
Smithsonian’s, and many of the most iconic monuments. In conjunction with the
Lincoln Memorial, all the student toured the relatively new National Museum of
African American History and Culture. This museum highlighted the importance of
African American culture and their hard-pressed battle to fight oppression.
Following the African American Museum, the students visited a variety of
museums such as The National Air and Space Museum & The Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History.
We all came back together to go
through the National Archives Museum where our nation’s founding documents are
kept and displayed. Yet, the most “humbling and eye-opening” experience that
everyone had today was visiting the Holocaust Museum. Thoughts about the
Holocaust Museum are hard to put into words, but this particular memorial pulls
the heartstrings and 100% humanizes this awful part of our history.
Rob picked us up at the Holocaust
museum and drove us back to the hotel. We had dinner back at the hotel with
about a thousand other youth tour students from many other states. (there are
about 1,800 youth tour students out here in total plus 200 chaperones) Texas
brings the most students, about 150. Whereas, Alaska only sends one student.
The next journey for the everyone
was Youth Tour Day held right here in the basement of our hotel. This event
included many uplifting, empowering, and inspirational speakers that coincided
with this year’s theme; ELEVATE. We were able to hear from NRECA’s CEO (Jim
Matheson), a line worker that has been to Haiti twice to help build electrical
cooperatives in the poverty-stricken area, and our very one Sarah Herz had some
stage time as she introduced herself as this year’s Youth Leadership Council
delegate from Iowa. The final motivational speaker was Mike Schlappi. Mike was
paralyzed from the waist down from as a teenager after being accidentally shot
by his friend. Mike tells his story about how he went on to graduate college,
win 4 Olympic medals, and many other extraordinary achievements. I would really
suggest looking him up on YouTube and watching one of his motivational
speeches, he may change your life.
FUN FACT: Apple CEO, Tim Cook, went
on Youth Tour when he was in high school.
The students ended the day with
more pin trading. Whenever any student sees a student from another state, they
swarm each other and begin to trade pins. It truly is a neat experience and the
world’s best ice breaker. If you didn’t know any better, you would think that
the Iowa students grew up together, that is how close they have become on this
trip. In fact, they are already planning reunions. Lifelong memories are being
made but best of all these young adults are forming friendships that will last
a lifetime.
Clayton Merritt
Youth Tour Intern
Follow us!
Check us out on Snapchat: iowayouthtour
No comments:
Post a Comment