Driving to our destination we passes many of the capitals landmarks and the students were excited to take pictures and can't wait until our excursion to the monuments and museums in a few days.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The White House
The Washington Monument
We arrived at The Catholic University of America right in the heart of Washington DC.
As we pulled up the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception greeted us to the campus.
We were then met by our tour guide, Mr. Louis a Junior Ambassador & Tour Guide, and Ms. Carly, an Admissions Counselor.
We toured the beautiful campus, had lunch in the student dining hall, and were presented with the overview of the universities admission policies by Ms. Carly. We were also able to visit the bookstore and tour the inside of the Basilica. It was a very informative and beautiful experience!
The Catholic University of America will be blogged by Kiana Ozbolt.
The next stop was the Cannon House Office Building in Washington DC.
This building is one of three that house the 435 members of congress. Hawaii Representative Mark Takai's office is in this building. We were unable to meet with Congressman Takai as he is on Oahu with his family.
Congressman Takai graduated from Pearl City High School and went to college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has 2 children that attend public school in Hawaii and is a passionate advocate for the betterment of the public school system in Hawaii. He served in the military in the Army National Guard and is also a passionate advocate for veteran services.
We were, however, able to meet with his staff, who gave us a short tour and answered all of our questions.
Ms. Kana Smith (pictured above in the pink dress and beige sweater), Legislative Assistant to Congressman Takai. Kana gave the group our initial greeting and overview. Kana graduated from Punahou High School and earned a degree at the University of Richmond in Virginia.
Mr. Alex Hetherington (pictured above in the suit), Special Assistant to Congressman Takai. Alex graduated from Punahou High School and earned a degree at the University of the Pacific in California.
Kayla (pictured above in the blazer) is an intern with Congressman Takai and a sophomore Georgetown University. Kayla also graduated from Punahou High School and was raised on the island of Kauai.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time with the congressman's staff, as we had to get back to our hotel to change for dinner and a show!
We had an amazing dinner at P.J. Skidoos in Fairfax, Virginia.
After dinner we headed to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to enjoy the "Phantom of the Opera" play! The show was amazing and the students really enjoyed it!
The play ended around 10 and we returned to the hotel for lights-out to be rested for tomorrows adventure!
Yet again, today was a great day! The adventure we are on is beyond compare. The students are present, enjoying themselves, and learning a lot. They reveled at the beauty and elegance of the Catholic University of America and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on campus which will be elaborated on by Kiana Ozbolt. They also enjoyed meeting the staff of Congressman Takai and seeing the Cannon house. I'm so glad the students were able to see these Hawaii raised staff members working in the nations capital with our congressman. The students were then treated to a very beautiful and moving play at the prestigious Kennedy Center, which was a first major production for most. They are enjoying the food and the adventure. They are not enjoying the heat, which got up to 98 degrees today (but really felt like 110), and the traffic, which we were exposed to 4 times today. All-in-all, today was definitely amazing and we are looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the trip!
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