Despite heightened security warnings, local students ventured to
Washington, D.C. this month to witness their government in
action.
Despite heightened security warnings, local students ventured to Washington, D.C. this month to witness their government in action.
As part of the Close Up program, six San Benito High School seniors spent Feb. 9-15 touring the nation’s capital and its politics. SBHS has been sending students to Washington D.C. with Close Up for almost 20 years, said Louise Ledesma, history teacher and social sciences division chair.
“It opens their eyes to new experiences,” Ledesma said. “Hopefully, they’ll come back and want to be active.”
Activities throughout the week included study visits to Washington landmarks, seminars with national leaders and small-group workshops. The students also spent an evening at the theater, attended a formal banquet and dance and were given a day of scheduled independent time for exploring the city.
This year’s trip focused on international politics and the possible war with Iraq, Ledesma said.
SBHS senior Kellie Dotson said she learned a lot about the problem in the Middle East. Students engaged in role-playing in which some were elected as presidents of various countries.
“I saw how hard it was (to try and solve problems),” Dotson said. “It was hard for us and it wasn’t even real life.”
Other participants said they can now visualize places and people their teachers talk about in class.
Monday through Friday, students were ready to go by around 7 a.m. and were out until 11 p.m. On Wednesday, the students met U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, at his office.
Eli Contreras, a SBHS senior and U.S. government student, said he learned a lot about government from the trip.
“Everything we talk about in my government class, I understand better,” he said. “I know the government lingo.”
An added bonus of the trip was the snow on the ground when the students arrived in Washington, Ledesma said.
Close Up is a club on the SBHS campus. Members meet with Ledesma every Tuesday at lunch. They spend a few months every winter fundraising for the D.C. trip. While only six students attended this year’s trip, groups have been as big as 35 in the past, Ledesma said.
“That’s too big,” she said.
Cost of the trip was around $1,500, Ledesma said, which included six nights in a Washington-area hotel, three meals per day including a farewell banquet and a dance, an evening performance at one of Washington’s major theaters, transportation throughout the week on our chartered buses, around-the-clock nursing consultation in each hotel, nighttime watch and evening curfew enforcement, supplemental life and medical insurance and professional instruction by full-time Close Up program staff.
The program is open to students of all abilities and backgrounds in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades. There are no grade point requirements or other restrictions.
Close Up is a “nonpartisan, nonprofit citizenship education organization; it has no affiliation with any branch of government, political party or special interest group,” according to its Web site
Every year, more than 20,000 students from more than 2,000 schools participate in the Close Up Washington program.
For more information, go to www.closeup.org.
