We had an early start Monday, June 17, as students met in the Sioux Falls airport for what was supposed to be a 5 a.m. flight to Minneapolis on their way to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Unfortunately, thunderstorms that struck the area led to a handful of delays out of Sioux Falls. By the time we landed in Minneapolis, our next flight was taking off. This gave seven WCS students an experience of a long lay-over in an airport that they would encounter again before arriving home at the end of the week. WCS students Jhett Breen, McKenzie Fuchs, Aubrey Medricky, Justyn Jaton, Matthew Kokes, Brooklin Nielsen and Kortney Ehrisman spent five days experiencing hands-on learning experiences as they navigated through airports, the nation’s capital city and the largest city in the nation.

While Monday was a lost day of travel and experiences in the Minneapolis Airport, students woke bright and early Tuesday, eager to learn more about our nation’s history and culture. Tuesday began early as students made their way to Arlington National Cemetery. As we walked through the cemetery, listening to the history and importance of the cemetery, the Arlington House, and the courageous men and women who are laid to rest there, students were in awe at the stories the tour guide had. Students saw the final resting places of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, along with two of their infant children and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. After seeing the eternal flame and hearing the story of the Arlington House, once built by George Washington’s grandson and lived in by General Robert E. Lee, students were able to witness a wreath laying ceremony and changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While students have all heard “Taps” being played before, witnessing it being played by a bugler in a place of high honor and dignity helped give new meaning for these students. Students mentioned they felt a special connection to the veterans being able to honor them in such a way. One student also noted that they never want to forget a saying that our tour guide mentioned, “live a life worth their sacrifice,” and they want to honor that, too.

That afternoon was spent going on a tour of the Capitol Building, seeing the Supreme Court building and Library of Congress before stopping at the African American History and Culture museum, where students learned about how Black history has impacted our history and pop culture. Students learned about slavery, segregation, and discrimination, learned about Emmett Till, saw Shaq’s shoes, Michael Jordan’s Jerseys, learned about Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens. We all agreed that almost two hours in the museum was not enough. After the museum, students saw the WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. The kids couldn’t believe how big the Lincoln Memorial was, in fact, the phrase mentioned most this week was “I can’t believe how big everything is.” While at the Vietnam War Memorial, students found the names of four people from Wagner who were KIA in Vietnam, and were able to do a “name rubbing” of those four and leave an American flag for each of them. Those were Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba, Eleanor Grace Alexander, Wendell Warren Stewart, and Gareth John Deal.

Wednesday started with a visit to see the White House, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. While our group attempted to go to the National Archives, the line was going to be too long, so we went through part of Chinatown and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Before heading to the place Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, we ducked into a small souvenir shop, where we ran into another group from South Dakota, including another Wagner student - small world! After touring through Ford’s Theatre and seeing the gun Lincoln was shot with and the booth he was in while watching the play, we went across the street to the Petersen House, where Lincoln would die the next morning. That afternoon, we went to Mt. Vernon, which was the residence of President George Washington. We also stopped at the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. The last stop of the night around sunset was the Iwo Jima and US Marine Corp War Memorial. Students had a hard time deciding their favorite memorial, as they were all so big, beautiful, and powerful.

Thursday Morning was a bus ride to New York City! We started off with a nice walking tour through Central Park, it was amazing how you didn’t feel like you were in the city while in the park! After the tour, we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Rockefeller Center, where we stopped in at the 30 Rock Building and NBC store, the place where things like SNL are filmed. Some of us tried a slice of real New York pizza at Ray’s and agreed it was some of the best we’ve had! Several students mentioned the highlight of their trip was that night, when students attended their first Broadway show, “The Outsiders.” Completed with fire, rain, and dancing, “The Outsiders” has won recent awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. Afterwards, students and myself got our first experience riding the New York Subway back to the hotel in Brooklyn.

Friday morning we took a subway to breakfast in Manhattan and then were able to hop on a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We were able to walk around Liberty Island and see the statue up close. Once back in the city, we explored around the World Trade Center site and 9/11 Memorial. While these students were not born yet in 2001, you could feel the power and emotions at the reflecting pools and memorials around it. After that, we loaded up to head back to LaGuardia Airport to head home, although the storms weren’t done with us yet. We were able to fly to Chicago, where we spent the night in the airport one last time before coming back to Sioux Falls on Saturday morning.

After taking kids on a cultural trip to Costa Rica in 2022, I saw what hands-on experiences can offer for students and how trips like this can help enrich their education, especially in ways they may not have gotten to do otherwise. This also gives students a desire to continue learning more about history and culture. This was an amazing group of kids to take to explore Washington DC and New York City with. While we all agreed that Washington was amazing and that the history was never-ending, we also all agreed that New York City was an experience that we are glad to have had, but we also came to a consensus that we like the open air, small building, and feeling of home that South Dakota offers.