Washington Youth Tour 2012: "Hey Y'all!!"

This March, I joined about 30 other juniors from Cobb County high school in the Cobb EMC Community Room to take a quiz about electric cooperatives and the history of Cobb EMC. A week later, I was among a lucky 14 to be invited back to be interviewed by a panel of approximately 20-30 Lady's Task Force members. Two days later, I was notified that I was selected as the first place winner for the Washington Youth Tour Scholarship & Competition. I would receive $1500 and an all-expense paid week-long trip to Washington D.C. in the summer. I was absolutely thrilled about being able to represent Cobb EMC in the Georgia delegation of students and to be able to tour the capital of our nation (APUSH definitely got me excited about that!). In three months, I would meet with 103 other Georgia students that would soon become my family.
The trip was phenomenal and I wrote this essay for a scholarship competition hosted by Mr. Cecil Wise, a former WYT chaperone from Georgia.
So I would like to share with you a little bit about my trip. It's impossible to describe the trip in under 500 words, but this is how I did it:

My philosophy has always been: if you’re ten minutes early, you’re on time. Therefore, I was not at all worried about the possible humiliation involved in missing the bus and taking a cab with a chaperone. But I found myself bested by a slow clock on just our second day in D.C. When our elevator stopped at the next floor, my roommate and I were greeted by three frantic girls who informed us that it was 8:03. The five of us urged the elevator to move faster, praying it wouldn’t make any more stops on the way down. We dashed out the second the doors opened on the lobby floor. As we reached the sidewalk, seeing our bus slowly pull off the curb and drive away, we were met with our chaperone, waving her arms and saying with no hint of sympathy, “It’s too late! You missed it! It’s gone!”

We followed her back into the lobby where she was told that it would take a good 20 minutes for a cab that could take six passengers to arrive. Embarrassed and anxious, the five of us followed her back outside where a cab pulled up, insisting that he could take all six of us—and our many apologies.

            The cab dropped us off at Arlington Cemetery and we “booked it” to the amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Asthmatic and wearing a dress, I found it a difficult hike, but worth the view. The amphitheater was completely empty and eerily silent as the wind began to stir. The marble shone sterling white in the crisp, clear blue sky. The breathtaking view left me speechless—time stood still.

Until our chaperone called out that the rest of our group was actually headed to the JFK Memorial. We turned our dressed up selves around and met up with the delegates at the entrance to the cemetery. From that moment on, we kept moving on this whirlwind of a tour.

This trip to D.C. was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity—words that we were beaten over the head with during the weeks leading up to the tour—and after that short week, I understand how appropriate those words are. The best part about the tour was the time I spent with students “just like me”—high-aspiring and invested in the community. I treasure that I was able to talk to a peer, whom I just met, about Model UN for over an hour on a bus. As a history fanatic as well, I found that I was not embarrassed to be truly amazed by the information we learned while sightseeing or during our hours at the Smithsonians. Instead, I shared this experience with my fellow delegates as we stared in awe at the exhibits in the Natural History Museum and wondered in amazement at the admirable leadership of George Washington that was the foundation for this center of democracy. 

P.S.--The Hirshorn Museum (for contemporary art) was my absolute favorite museum in the National Mall. I HIGHLY recommend you stop by if you're ever in D.C. The first three and the last pictures are from a collection known as Suprasensorial--it included work with fluorescent lights and textures that was just absolutely stunning:

 

 

Also, here is the absolutely stunning amphitheater discussed