WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007

We moved all over today. Briefing at the Justice Department....Award ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honoring women in the military.....Capitol Hill preview visit.....




During our briefing at the Department of Justice Rob asked the press secretary about using no-warrant searches..... Way to Go, Robby!

A demonstration against Global Warming was going on when we were at the Capitol. Al Gore was testifying before the Senate. We got posters and tee shirts.



This is our whole group....Can you find the Waltham kids?

Rob, Chris, and Dion on the steps of the Supreme Court....

Alex was the instructor for the boys' group.

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2007

We loved your comments...thanks for checking us out.

Today's Theme: What is worth fighting for?

• After our morning workshops we went to a briefing at the DOJ (department of justice) and it was like a Q & A with the press secretary. It was just before the president talked and we asked if Attorney General Gonzales was going to get fired.



• Next we went to Capitol Hill for our group photo....There was a big demonstration about global warming and we got posters and T-shirts.



• After lunch we went to the War Memorials: WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.



• The kids from Nebraska and Hawaii are cool. We are meeting lots of kids from all over the country. Most of them are from really small towns and tiny high schools. Like zero diversity. Waltham is way cool.



• After dinner we went out for our "NIGHT ON THE TOWN" ---we'll tell you about it when we get home.

The weather was in the mid 60s, sunny, Spring day. The grass is green, the flowers are starting to come out.

Monday March 19, 2007

Theme for the day: Three Faces of Democracy:

1. Progressive


2. Protective


3. Participatory

After breakfast two hour workshop about what your political views are. How to know if you are liberal, moderate or conservative.

Out to lunch to Ben's Chilli Bowl (Survived through the riots of Martin Luther King's assasination) for Jessie, Mrs. Fay, and me... Dion, Chris, and Rob went to lunch with their friends from Oklahoma School for the Blind

• Ask us about Jordan's driving critique

Visited the Jefferson, F.D.R. , and Lincoln memorials - -very impressive

Out to dinner at Buca di Beppo - Italian family style resturant

• ask us the new words we learned from the Hawaian girls

Back to the hotel for a domestic issues debate. It was awesome....the liberal side crushed the conservative guy. We really got into it...Robby was impressive.

Then we met in Fay's room to continue the debate and it got quite heated. Who knew politics could be so exciting????

Today was really busy but a lot of fun and we are learning a lot about government and how to be better citizens and meeting kids from all over the country.

• Ask us about the kids from Nebraska and North Dakota and how big their schools are.

Looking forward to tommorow.

SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2007

We got here by 10 AM...Had a good flight and arrived safely...checked into our program....

• We took the Metro into Washington D.C. --- ask us about Dion's train ride!!
• Visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History...saw the Hope Diamond and some cool Dinosaurs ---- ask us about Mrs. Fay's sense of direction.
• Walked thru the National Mall - Capital Hill at one end - Washington Monument at the other. Very impressive
• Next stop - National Holocaust Museum - awesome experience.
• After finding a Starbucks for Jessie we went back to hotel for dinner and our First Orientation Workshop.
• At 10 PM we all met and Robby led us in heated discussion on domestic policy issues and which workshops to sign up for tomorrow.

Busy Day...We think this is going to be Good...

Travel Plans -

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Students will meet @ WHS parking lot at 5:45 am!! Don't be late.

Where are we going?

The students in Mrs. Fay's Current Issues classes are excited to be participating in the Close Up Foundation program. We are the pioneer group adventuring from Waltham to our nation's capitol. We will post our reflections each day for you.