By Lauren McLaughlin
This May, students from Third Future Schools were able to travel to our Nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. We had a whirlwind adventure exploring the rich history and culture of the heart of our Nation. From the White House to more museums and monuments than one can count, our students were able to see it all!
Day 1: We started our trip practically in the middle of the night! To maximize the amount of time we would have in D.C., students were on the first flights out. This meant we were meeting at school as early as midnight! After a brief flight, we met up with our wonderful tour director and were off on our first adventure!
Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. We were able to pay our respects to our Nation’s heroes, and see the final resting place of inspiring figures like John F Kennedy. Our students were able to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watch two very special ceremonies: the Changing of the Guard and a Wreath Laying Ceremony.
After Arlington, we hopped on the bus to the Iwo Jima Monument, and our students had a great time playing frisbee and relaxing in front of the monument.
Our next stop was D.C.’s central train station for dinner at Pizza Uno. This historic train station was beautiful, and dinner was pretty great too! When we finished eating, it was time to visit the monuments. We visited the United States Navy Memorial, the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Einstein Memorial! We also sat at the Washington Memorial from across the mall.
After a long day of travel, and too many sights to count, we drove to our hotel and got students settled in for the night.
Day 2: We started our day by heading to the White House. When we finished time there, we were excited to spend the rest of the day visiting as many Smithsonian museums as we could! Washington, D.C. is home to the Smithsonian Institute, which has 19 museums and the National Zoo making it the largest museum complex in the world! Our students were able to visit the African American History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the American History Museum, and the National History Museum. Many of the museums are situated around a big park, so following a busy day of learning, we were able to relax on the lawn and think about all the amazing things that we saw. We then headed back into D.C. to visit the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
Afterwards, we returned to our hotel completely and utterly exhausted after walking what felt like a million miles that day!
Day 3: Our last day in D.C.! We started this day with a mad dash running up Capitol Hill to make it to a tour of the United States Capitol Building. We were able to learn about the history of the building, and learn a little bit about how the government works. There were plenty of congresspeople around and we almost got caught up in a press conference of a senator! After the Capitol, we took the underground passages to the Library of Congress. We also stopped to see the Supreme Court Building and we finished our tour by visiting more monuments: the World War 2 Monument, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Monument, the Martin Luther King J.R. Monument, and the National Archives. We weren’t able to take pictures in the Archive, but we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Magna Carta. Once we finished our lunch, we headed to the airport, said goodbye to our tour director, and made it back home safe and sound.
About Lauren McLaughlin
Lauren has been the Dyad Coordinator at the Academy of Advanced Learning for two and a half years. Building community and providing access to new experiences for students are Lauren’s driving forces.
Where will Dyad go next?
Stay tuned for 2023 – 2024 travel updates from Third Future Schools.
