From April 21^st to the 25^th, my teammates and I were in Washington, D.C. for the We the People national finals. Our schedule was completely full of plenty of amazing experiences in our Nation’s capital.

On the first day of our trip, we arrived in D.C., and went straight to the National Museum of American History, the National Archives, the Washington Monument, the White House (we just stood outside and took pictures), and we ate at a place called “We the Pizza”. On our second day (and first full day), we visited the Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, The Holocaust Museum, participated in the Science March, saw the World War II Memorial, and competed in the Competition for the first time. On the third day of the trip, we had our second (and unfortunately final) day of Competition, we viewed the Capitol Building, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, FDR Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and had a great time at the DJ Dance for all of the participating students. On day 4, our team visited the Capitol, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Arlington National Cemetery, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, and attended the Awards Ceremony. On the following morning, we began our bus ride home, but while we were still in D.C., the Police had closed off the street in order to let the Presidential Motorcade roll by, which we all had the opportunity to watch.

The two days of competition, which are the primary reason why we were on this trip were truly a great experience. Though we, as a team did not achieve our primary goal of finishing in the top 10, we did very well nonetheless. On the first day of competition, we had four out of our six teams make it into the top 10 for their unit (Units 1,2,5,6), one team miss a perfect score by three points (Unit 5 with a 177/180, which is second for their unit nationally), and the team finished in 11^th place. We did really well on the first day, and had a real chance of cracking the top 10 after the first two days (which would have seen us compete for a third day in House Committee rooms), but our scores were not as high on the second day as on the first day. Regardless of that, the team finished in 16^th PLACE FOR THE ENTIRE NATION! We also saw two units in the top 10’s for their units (Units 2 & 5). That is remarkable. For a school that was there in D.C. for the first time, or any team for that matter, we competed extraordinarily well.

This trip was a fantastic experience for all 35 of us students that went. We enjoyed taking in several sites that are crucial to our country’s history, and since we are a very close-knit group, we had the privilege of doing it with friends.

I would like to thank Mr. Uplinger for leading us on this journey and Mr. Hock and Ms. Shaw for chaperoning. This truly was a very rewarding experience.