Delaney Losier goes to Washington
Published Tuesday October 28th, 2008
Leadership A young Quispamsis student's impressions of the U.S. capital, with the American election not far off
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Editor's note: Delaney Losier is a student at the Centre scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain who recently took part in a leadership forum co-ordinated by People to People, an organization founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington D.C. She was one of five youths from Canada, and one of three from her school to attend the program, which brought together hundreds of young people from across the globe. Losier recorded her adventures and impressions of the U.S. capital for the Telegraph-Journal.
We arrived late at night after being fogged in at the Saint John airport to start the trip earlier in the day. Shortly after landing I arrived in my room at the Hilton Hotel and met my roommates, Chelsea from Michigan and Keisha from Idaho, and saw my first view of the city from the 10th floor.
The next morning I discovered there are 720 kids in Washington this week, and 200 of them are in my hotel. At breakfast we heard about the program and why we're here - to learn and have fun experiences while we get to know new people.
My group has 12 kids, six boys and six girls, all in eighth grade. My roommate Keisha is in my group, but not Chelsea. We boarded a huge touring bus with four other groups, and I started passing out my Quispamsis, New Brunswick and Canada pins to everyone - kids from Hong Kong, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. I'm the only Canadian on my bus and I discover that no one else knows about ketchup-flavoured chips, and that pop is soda and washroom is bathroom. I'm learning to speak American.
First we stopped at Arlington National Cemetery. It was pretty impressive, with so many tombstones. We saw John F. Kennedy's grave site and learned he was buried there because he loved the area and view so much. We visited the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and watched the changing of the guard. They barked orders at each other and marched loudly. It was impressive and quite moving that people recognize the contribution and significance of the soldiers. Even those whose identities no one knew were celebrated.
After Arlington we went to the Iwo Jima Monument, a statue of soldiers trying to hold up the American flag and tie the flag to raise the hopes of the troops who were fighting. The men are 45 feet high and the statue is twice as tall. It was pretty cool, sculpted from a real photograph taken that day at war. The sculptor recreated the real faces of the soldiers and it was really lifelike.
After lunch in the Ronald Reagan Building - we had to leave our purses, backpacks and electronics on the bus - we went to the White House Visitor Center which is actually not that close to the White House. Then we went to the Holocaust museum, a very complicated and confusing building. The architect had designed it to recreate the confusion and uncertainty felt by the Jewish people at the time, and it made us feel disoriented and confused.
They told us Daniel's story, a sad tale of a Jewish boy from Germany who was taken to a concentration camp with his family. His dad was a decorated soldier, and his mother and sister both died in the camps. There is a room where you can turn left or right - one way starts at his house and the other goes to his street and shows the living condition he had before and after the concentration camp. The tour is really of his thoughts and his diary and was the story of many Jewish children of the time. It made me really sad and angry.
Then we went to the Abraham Lincoln statue, you know the famous one where he's sitting in a chair and where Martin Luther King gave his speech. It was so cool and huge. We also saw the theatre where President Lincoln was shot. It was closed for renovations, but we stood outside and the guide gave us info and history.
Next we visited the Korean and Vietnam War Monuments, with the names of soldiers on the walls. There were a lot of people, rubbing the names and many had left presents and flowers. It was touching.
On the third day we were up at 5 o'clock in the morning for breakfast and then boarded a bus, driving two hours to the Jamestown Settlement, which reminded me of Pocahontas because it was recreated from the 17th century, and the front gate looks just like when Pocahontas walks away from John Smith. Three were people dressed up in costumes and there were a lot of chickens running around. It was a big fenced-in fortification, a couple of houses, a church and a really big wall. The guides said the fort was built for protection from the Spanish, who never actually showed up. Part way through our visit, this guy had a gun and he showed us how they used them back then. The whole thing was pretty cool, and really well done.
Then it was off to Williamsburg, which was more like the Acadian Village in Caraquet. It was a mile long and a half-mile wide, and we walked the whole thing. Most houses are built on at least part of the original foundation, and people were dressed in the clothing of the period, and they stayed in character even when talking to us.
On the way back to the hotel on the bus everyone got into a big conversation about politics, discussing Obama versus McCain and the war in Iraq. It was pretty interesting, even for a Canadian. Some of the kids got right into the heat of it.
Gettysburg was on the agenda for the next day. We visited the Gettysburg National Military Park, home of the Gettysburg Museum of the Civil War, which featured all kinds of cool artifacts from the Civil War. Things like guns and pistols, the different types of uniforms for everyone from foot soldiers to commanding officers. There were movies showing how the Union won the war against the Confederate Army, even though most of the time it looked like they were going to lose. We went to the battlefield where they actually fought, and our tour guide described how people were buried right under our feet and that often bones turn up.
We got to see and climb on this fortification that was built right on the battlefield where the war was won on big gambles and risks. I thought it was cool to be standing on the very places big decisions were made.
We saw part of the underground railway from the 1700s, and later drove to the Eisenhower Farm, where the president came for weekends and took world leaders to visit. It was really beautiful. Half of the house is original and the rest was rebuilt by the Eisenhower family when they lived there, but most of the items in the house are authentic. We also got to see the National Fallen Firefighters' Memorial, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful monuments in the U.S., built in 1981 as a tribute to all firefighters who serve their communities.
Like the previous nights, when we got back to the hotel there was homework to do. We have to work on a skit to be presented that focused on responsibility - for yourself and your actions - and what it means to be a good leader. We also wrote letters to soldiers fighting overseas, ones who wouldn't normally get a lot of mail. I think it's amazing that a soldier will actually get a letter from little old me. We are not allowed to give any contact info like where we live, names, email or anything like that, but I can say I'm Canadian.
Day five was all about understanding how the U.S. government works. First we visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. He's the man who said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." It was cool because it was broken into four different sections outdoors, one for each of his terms in office. It's all landscaped and pretty with trees and bushes and plants and waterfalls, which were designed to represent the different things happening when he was president - the Depression, wars, even his death. He had an agreement with all the reporters and photographers that they would only ever take pictures of his upper half because he was in a wheelchair and didn't want to be stereotyped as not being strong or decisive. Even in the statue, his chair has a big coat over it.
We laid a wreath at the George Mason Memorial, because he was one of the authors of the Declaration of Rights and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, a huge marble building with pillars and a bronze statue of him inside. Thomas Jefferson was a president and the first author of the Declaration of Independence. We visited the Capitol Building, and even sat in the Senate Chambers.
Then we went to the place I'd been waiting the whole trip to visit - the Library of Congress. I was not let down, it was amazing! There were tons of books, huge maps and we got to see Jefferson's library, which is in the same building. As I expected they would not let me take out a book, even with my New Brunswick Public Library card. I had hoped to be able to at least walk up and down the aisles, maybe even look at an individual book, but the security was pretty intense.
Then it was off to the Air and Space Museum, where there are thousands of models of airplanes and flying machines hanging from the ceilings. I even got to see real moon rock from the moon, and we learned about gravity.
The Newseum was next, and it was super cool. The first thing we saw was a huge marble engraving of the First Amendment, and we watched a movie about people who helped expand our world and knowledge through journalism. Then came the World War II Memorial, and dinner at the Brazilian Embassy, which had the best chocolate cake.
On the sixth and last day of the trip, we headed to the Washington Monument, which is a big, white obelisk. It looks like a big pencil. What's really funny is that the top half is slightly darker. They had to stop construction because of things like the Civil War and fundraising, and they couldn't start again for 20 years. By that time it was impossible, even though they tried, to perfectly match the colour.
Next we went to the Spy Museum, but I have no proof I was actually there because they wouldn't allow cameras or recording devices of any kind. We were allowed to crawl through air ducts like we were spies. We could peek through the grates and see people who didn't know we were watching them. The Spy Museum is also bugged. You can listen in to conversations people are having in other parts of the building and they don't know you're listening. There was a James Bond car, and every few minutes it would turn on and do things - drop oil slicks, flip its licence plate, turn its lights into guns. We learned secret code breaking and ways to pass secret messages undetected. There was a wall called "Caught" with the names and pictures of spies that had been captured from different countries.
Only today did we finally get to see the front of the White House. It was a little smaller than I expected. In one of my pictures there's a guy on the roof; I assume he was Secret Service. While we were gawking a black limo pulled up and went through the gates.
Then we checked out the Native American Museum. It was full of artifacts and paintings; there were samples of clothing and cooking utensils, pots and tools.
This has been an amazing experience. Besides earning that high school credit, I have made so many friends that I'll stay in touch with for the rest of my life. The sights were amazing; I can't believe how much I've learned. It was so worth all the fundraising and work. Thank you, thank you to everyone who helped me get here. It wouldn't have been possible without you. And to all the people who told me Washington was their favourite city, now I completely understand.
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