Recently, the fifth grade students of Sharpe Elementary School went on a trip to Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. We got to see some interesting places such as Independence Hall, Liberty Bell Center, Mount Vernon, the National Cathedral, and my personal favorite, Arlington National Cemetery. I would like to share with you some of the highlights of our trip.
We began our trip in Philadelphia. Our first stop was Independence Hall, which is where both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written and signed. After leaving there, we visited the Liberty Bell Center. We learned that the Liberty Bell is 263 years old! The final place we visited was the Constitution Center, which is a museum about all history ranging from A to Z.
That night, we arrived in Washington D.C., and began touring there the next day. To start the day off, we went to the Jefferson Memorial. Then, we visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which opened recently in 2011. Finally, we went to the National Cathedral, which has some very famous people buried there, such as Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson.
The following day, we began in Arlington National Cemetery. There, four students, myself, Meg Bevil, Samuel Lanham, and Reese Fortner, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The ceremony was extra special because this was the first time a local florist, Story’s Buds And Blooms, provided the wreath for our school. The reason that meant so much to me was because we were honoring soldiers that died in the line of duty, but were unidentified. After that, we went to Ford’s Theatre, which is where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The last stop we made was the Vietnam Wall.
On Friday, we started at Mount Vernon, the estate of our first president, George Washington. Then, we went to the Capitol, which is where the lawmakers for our country work. Our final stop was the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
The trip was an amazing experience for each and every one of us. This was a once in a lifetime event that I don’t think any of us will ever forget. I feel that given the opportunity anyone would go back. We could never thank our teachers, principal, and sponsors enough for making this trip possible.
Written by Brody Chambers
5th Grade Student, Sharpe Elementary School
