Citizenship Washington Focus

Monday, June 20

We go on the bus at 7:40 AM and left for Mount Vernon. It was very amazing, the house was beautiful. There were a lot of antiques and old buildings. inside the main house there were a lot of colorful rooms. Over at the estate farm, there is a 16 sided barn which was very cool to see. later on in the day, we went to the National Mall and saw a lot of memorials. one of our group members said they enjoyed this experience because we were able to see the work of our fallen brothers. The first memorial we saw was the World War 2 Memorial. it was very beautiful and full of symbolism. afterward we went to the Vietnam Memorial. It was very emotional to see all of the flowers from Fathers Day. Ariana, our Program Assistant, help me to take a rubbing of the name of a family member. We then went to the Lincoln Memorial. we go to see a lot of beautiful scenery looking out on the Notional Mall. We took a short break and went to the Korean War Memorial. This one was interesting because instead of seeing names on the wall you could see the actual faces of men who fought. beacause the Korean War was the first to use service dogs, we were all searching and taking pictures of the only dog in the memorial. It was starting to get dark so we went over tot eh Martin Luther King Memorial. It was very beautiful and interesting. The quotes were very inspirational. Ariana was very smart and told us about a lot of history. We all enjoyed the history she told us about each Memorial. When we finished at the Memorials we headed back to the 4-H Center for a good night of sleep.

-Rachel F.

**Chaperone Commentary**

The kids are doing a very good job staying involved and enthusiastic about their tours. A lot of hard work is being done within their committees and some very important conversations are being had. Watching and listening to our Kansas delegates has been a joy. Everyone is doing well!