Senior Trip to Washington D.C. – Day 5

It is Senior Trip time at Great Hearts where seniors throughout our academies have the opportunity to visit our nation’s capital and see the historical places and context for so many of their discussions regarding human nature, freedom, liberty, justice, and many other ideals and virtues.

Follow one senior, Jacob Rickey, as he gives us a daily peak at some of the amazing sites they will experience this week, through his eyes and in his own words. Catch up with the trip by reading previous articles before you proceed with today’s entry:

• Days One and Two
• Day Three
• Day Four

Thursday, March 9th
Written by Jacob Rickey, Great Hearts Senior

After breakfast, we all left our hotel and took the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. It was unbelievable to see the endless number of gravesites and to walk for 30 minutes and still not see the end of it. I couldn’t believe it when I learned they are running out of room to bury soldiers.

While at Arlington, we had the opportunity to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This was such an impressive ceremony that happens every hour. It was amazing to witness. We also got to watch them fire cannons, which were so loud we all had to cover our ears. Later, we walked through Arlington House, which is the former home of Robert E. Lee and now a memorial for him. Next to the house, we found President John F. Kennedy’s gravesite. His gravesite has a flame in the center that they call an “eternal flame” that never goes out and was originally lit by his wife.  JFK is one of only two Presidents buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

We left Arlington, hopped back on the metro and went directly to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial. The sculpture, which is based on a famous image of the second flag-raising on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II, was crazy huge and really an amazing statue.

It was back on the metro, this time to Georgetown to eat a late lunch at Filamena’s Ristorante, a popular Italian restaurant in the area. This was a group lunch, and it was so good. Most of our group had to box up their food because of all the salad and bread that we filled up on before the entree.

After lunch, it was back to the hotel for some free time and to get changed for an evening at the Klein Theatre. The Shakespeare Theatre Company is doing a stage production of King Lear, which we just read this school year. It should be fun to see how they bring the characters to life and how they present the text that we have studied. It is about King Lear and how he tries to split up his kingdom between his three daughters. He tries to have them compete, but it does not work out and ends in tragedy. It was a great piece of literature on which I wrote an essay.

Stay tuned for the final full day in Washington D.C., where we will tour Ford’s Theatre and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Do you have a story or know of a story that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts?  Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org