Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
From March 17-24, six Banner County students as well as their government teacher Mrs. Hilbert traveled to D.C. and N.Y.C. to participate in the Close-Up program.
Students who attended were Grace Fankhauser, Andie West, Karleigh Leslie, Brendyn Onstott, Nate McGowan and Isaac Olsen.
Student D.C. workshop topics were as follows: environmental issues, food security, college affordability, homelessness, and immigration. They participated in a mock session of Congress. Walking workshops brought them to the following monuments: Jefferson, FDR, MLK, WWII, Lincoln, Korean, Vietnam, Air Force, Marine, Eisenhower, and Washington. They also visited Arlington National Cemetery and saw the changing of the guard.
On Wednesday, the students participated in Capitol Hill Day. They started off by attending the Nebraska Breakfast held at the Dirksen Senate building; here they listened to each member of the Nebraska delegation of Congress talk about what committees they are on and specific bills that they are working on. Afterwards, our students met and visited with Representative Smith and Senators Ricketts and Fischer.
Gov. Jim Pillen happened to be in attendance. He made a point to introduce himself to our students and visited with them for a while.
On Friday, our students traveled to N.Y.C. The student walking workshops included: The Financial District and Stone Street, 9-11 Memorial, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza and Top of the Rock. Students attended a Broadway play as well.