Senior Trip to Washington D.C. – Day 3

It is Senior Trip time at Great Hearts where seniors throughout our academies have the opportunity to visit our nation’s capital and see the historical places and context for so many of their discussions regarding human nature, freedom, liberty, justice, and many other ideals and virtues.

Follow one senior, Jacob Rickey, as he gives us a daily peak at some of the amazing sites they will experience this week, through his eyes and in his own words. Catch up with the trip and read about the first two daysbefore you proceed with today’s entry.

Tuesday, March 7th
Written by Jacob Rickey, Great Hearts Senior

We got up a little later in the day this morning, which made a lot of people in the group really happy. Our first stop of the day was a tour of The White House. We waited in line outside for a while in the cold and at the part of the day when it was super windy. There was a lot of security we had to go through to actually get into the building, but when we finally all got through, it was a fun experience to see into some of the rooms of the White House. A lot of the rooms were named after a color and the entire room was decorated in that color.  We also learned that many of the things in the White House were gifts from other countries.

When we left, it was so cold that some of us had to rush back to the hotel to get more layers to put on. We later met up at the Library of Congress. It was huge and just a beautiful building to be in. Then we were given some free time to eat lunch and do what we wanted in smaller groups. A lot of us grabbed food from We, The Pizza again because it was so close to the library. When the groups split up, some went to the United States Botanic Garden, and some went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and some even went to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

I chose to walk through the Botanical Garden, which was probably my favorite thing I did today.  They altered the temperature and environment of each room to accommodate different plants from different places from around the world. It was just beautiful! From there, we went through the National Museum of Natural History before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

We have walked a ton today and most of our group is pretty tired and happy to rest up and chill this evening at the hotel.  We will be back at it bright and early tomorrow morning!

Stay tuned for Day Four! Do you have a story or know of a story that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts?  Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org.