A group of 42 eighth grade WestGate students and four chaperones recently visited Washington, D.C. They visited the White House, and upon entering the East Wing, the newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob Lew, was leaving the White House and returning to the adjacent Treasury Department. They visited the Jefferson, World War II, Grant and Martin Luther King, Jr., memorials. They visited the Kennedy famly gravesite at the Arlington National cemetery, and viewed the solemn ceremony of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The students then visited Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and took pictures with many historical figures. A snow storm greeted the group on their second day of the trip, a first for many students, and they toured the Iwo Jima, Lincoln, Vietnam Wall and Korean Memorials in the snow. The group then went to the Capitol and visited with Congressman Patrick Murphy. While on a guided Capitol tour, in Statuary Hall, the Speaker of the House John Boehner walked by and chatted with the West Gate students for a few moments. The group visited the Smithsonian Museums, National Aeronautics and Space, both the American Museum of Natural History and the museum of American History, where the restored “Star Spangled Banner” is on display. Pictured are the students in the north portico of the White House.
WestGate students enjoy whirlwind Washington visit
