I just came back from Washington, D.C., with my daughter and the other 148 seventh graders, parents and chaperones. I didn't go to learn; I went to watch over my daughter and see the sights, yet I returned with so much more.

There were rumors going around that the Board of Education were voting to not allow any further overnight trips for students. I hope this was just a rumor. Please voice your opinion to the Board of Education and let them know that parents aren't going to sit back and let this happen. These trips are important to our children, whether its a band trip, chorus, or other trip. Call the board of Education and get answers. Now I'm going to share our Washington trip with everyone, so they will know just how important these trips are.

We started our days at 6 a.m. with a quick breakfast around 7:30 and it was off to Mt. Vernon. We saw where George and Martha Washington lived and died. We saw how people lived and worked back then, doing some weaving and cooking ourselves. Then on to the Capitol to watch the House of Representatives speak about trade with China.

All the while, our tour guide, Tony Villa, was teaching the children all they ever wanted to know about every place we visited. We went to the FDR Memorial, which was a sanctuary of shade trees and waterfalls defining each of his terms in office. His quotes are carved into the granite. One which stands out in my mind is, “You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Each room conveyed in its own way, the spirit of this great man. We felt his presence.

It was off to the Lincoln Memorial next, where we saw 36 columns around the memorial which represent the states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. We read the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address which were carved on the walls. We also saw the two sides of Lincoln. Then to Jefferson Memorial that evening, right after dinner. We saw the bronze statue of Jefferson and the inscribed panels with quotations from Jefferson's writings. It was beautiful at nighttime and memorable. We were back at the hotel around 10 p.m., just in time to shower and crash in bed.

The next day it was on to the Ford Theater where a storyteller told us of Lincoln's assassination by Booth in 1965, as we all sat silently, enthralled by the entire story. He told us things you could not learn from a text book. Also, it just so happens, I was sitting in the seat that President Clinton sits in when he comes to the theater.

We then headed on to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many a tear was shed as we walked through, gazing at the pictures, listening to the stories, and reading all about the tragedies that took place during the reign of Hitler.

We were each given an identification card booklet before the tour. In it contained a picture of a Jewish person or one of Deutsche decent. You read about the young life of this person on the first page while on the fourth floor.

As you travel through the floors from fourth down to the first, you read another page, one for each floor, until you reach the last floor and the last page. This is where you learn the fate of your person. These were real people, real pictures and their life stories. Some of ours lived and emigrated to America, but most were shot and killed, gassed, beat to death or died from disease. The booklets were ours to keep as a reminder.

Then it was on to the American History Museum where we walked around viewing all the gowns of all the first ladies, the inventions of Alexander Bell and Thomas Edison, Dorothy's red slippers from the Wizard of Oz and so much more. We saw the original Star-Spangled Banner, which is being resewn. It takes up a huge room by itself. There was so much to see, we could have spent a whole day there.

Next, we went down the street to the Natural History Museum and were amazed seeing a giant squid, the insect zoo, native cultures, ice age, fossil mammals, the Hope diamond and many other intriguing exhibits.

The Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights was our next stop, where we learned that the Declaration of Independence was written on parchment paper made from goat and sheep skin. The whole exhibit is guarded 24 hours a day. At night, it is lowered into a six-foot thick, steel and concrete vault, 22 feet down into the earth. This vault weights 55 tons. The documents are covered with four layers of thick filtered glass. The vault could withstand even a nuclear attack. It was amazing to see.

We then went to the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I can't begin to tell you how we felt as we walked, read and felt the statues and the thousands of names carved in stone. It put a knot in our throat. Then we drove up Embassy Row, also viewing the cathedral. Getting back to the hotel late again, we showered and went straight to bed.

For our last day, it was breakfast at Planet Hollywood. Then to the White House where we saw the Oval Office, the Blair House and a statue of Andrew Jackson. We then drive to the Marine Corps War Memorial, where we drove slowly around the statue and it appeared the flag was being raised. Here we also learned much information about WWII and Iwo Jima.

Then on to Arlington Memorial Cemetery, where we participated in the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, where it read, “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.” We watched the changing of the guards and learned that it takes six months of training before they can guard the tomb.

Before they are even considered for training, there are certain guidelines that have to be met first. They have to be within a certain weight, height, and chest size. Their body has to be built a certain way, their foot has to be a certain size and their waist should be 31 inches, no more and no less. They guard in 30-minute increments, taking 21 paces and pausing 21 seconds for the entire 30-minute guard.

We stood respectfully, taking it all in. We were fascinated seeing the eternal flame where John F. Kennedy and his family were buried.

I am so grateful to have been able to take this journey with my daughter. When I attended Fayette County schools, we did not have the opportunities that children have today, to go on class trips such as this. I enjoyed this trip as much as the students and I learned things that I never knew before.

It also prepared the students to study Washington when they get to the eighth grade. They will be more knowledgeable and interested in their studies because they will remember the things from this trip.

Please call the board of education and voice your opinions today, or by next year, there will be no more overnight trips for students.

Debbie Mathews

Fayetteville

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