St. John High School Washington DC Trip 2021- Day 1
Caden’s High School offered an amazing educational trip to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 2021 through World Classrooms. This trip was offered to both the students and their parents if they wanted to go along. It was a four-day, three-night trip jam-packed from morning to night with all the major historical sites in the DC area. I am a huge history buff, and DC has always been on my list of places to visit, so when Caden asked if I would go with him, I couldn’t pass up this awesome opportunity. This was the first time I can remember this trip being offered through the school, and due to the COVID restrictions that had been in place for the past year, we were unsure if it would actually take place or not. Fortunately, it did take place, although some of the things that were offered through the company pre-COVID were still off-limits or had restrictions in place, so some parts of the trips did get modified. This trip included five students from St. John as well as twenty-one other students from Kinsley and Satanta High Schools.
July 30, 2021 – This morning, we were picked up by a charter bus in front of the High School at 1:30 AM to make it to Wichita on time for our early morning flight. (click on pictures for full-sized images)
We finally made it to DC mid-afternoon, met up with our CEO (Chief Experience Officer) Marta, who would lead us for the next few days, and then headed to Chevy’s Fresh Mex for an early dinner.
After dinner, we headed to The Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park to walk around the 2.1-mile Tidal Basin Loop Trail. The Tidal Basin is home to several memorials, the Floral Library, the Japanese Pagoda and Japanese Lantern, and the site of the First Cherry Tree Planting. This location is best associated with the yearly Cherry Blossom Festival every spring. This area was beautiful, but I would love to return in the spring to attend this festival, as I imagine it is even more amazing. You can also look across the Tidal Basin and see the Washington Monument, the Capital Building, and the National Mall.
Our first stop was at the Martin Luther King Memorial, the first memorial to recognize a Black American on the National Mall. The theme is Dr. King emerging from a mountain, derived from his quote, “Out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope,” from his “I Have A Dream” Speech, which was delivered in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Then, we continued around the trail, where we visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. This memorial uses stone, water, and landscaping and consists of five outdoor rooms: one as a prologue and the other four as the four terms of FDR.
The final stop for the evening was the Jefferson Memorial. This Pantheon-like structure was completed in 1939 and honors Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States of America. In the center is a bronze statue of Jefferson added in 1947. The memorial also features several quotes from Jefferson that capture his ideology and philosophy.
After spending some time at each of these memorials, we got back on the bus and made our way to our hotel. We were staying at the Gaylord National, located in National Harbor, Maryland. Once we got checked in and everyone was settled in their assigned rooms, I took a quick walk outside before calling it a night.
