Amazing trip!   It's hard to believe the week has passed and we have arrived safely back home.  We are now left with a lifetime of memories and friendships.  

Thanks to all the students and Team Leaders for making this the most successful Freedom Tour ever!

As far as my eyes could see were rows and rows of resting heroes beneath the grassy ground. Many thoughts were racing through my mind as I took in the view. All those men and women died for what we have now…. Freedom. I listened to the trees, as the wind blew across what seemed to be the biggest graveyard ever. This moment will forever be engraved in my memory. The way the people acted and cared for this place made the Arlington National Cemetery the most moving place we have been on the Freedom Tour.

-Bryanna

 
Today was a very interesting day seeing Arlington National Cemetery. Seeing John F. Kennedy’s grave was so exciting because there was a flame that never goes out and that was very cool. Once we took off from the cemetery we took stopped at the Post Office and inside there was a huge mall. We definitely checked that out and on top of the building was a beautiful site you could see the whole city. Once we showed up at the natural history museum I got so excited because I’ve always wanted to go there and it was so fun seeing all the different types of animals. So the day was almost over and we were on our way to the hotel and we took a stop at the Hometown Buffet and that definitely finished my day off once I ate almost every food possible so overall it was a great day for me.

Dylan

Today we traveled to Arlington National Cemetery. Knowing that my Grandfather will be buried here one day, it was very interesting to see this amazing cemetery. So many people have loved ones here and someday I will as well. To see the changing of the guard really meant how much this country cares about respecting the fallen. As I watched the changing of the guards I was very impressed on the precision of the guards and how proud they were to be guarding The Tomb of the Unknowns. They have to be between 5 foot 10 and 6 foot 4, whether you’re a man or a woman. These strict policies prove how much the United States cares about their citizens. Every single gravestone shows how proud those people were to fight for the country and for the ones that they loved. The Arlington National Cemetery was truly one of the greatest cemeteries in the world, and it serves as a resting place for some of the greatest people who had ever lived.

--Ethan

Today was fun and yet exhausting. We went to three really cool places today. The first thing we saw was the national cemetery. In the national cemetery two things stuck out. One thing was the graves, they went on forever and they were in perfect alignment. The other thing was the rocks on the graves. I heard earlier during the trip that the rocks were there to tell people that people still miss this person. The second place we went to was the Smithsonian museums. I went to the natural history museum and there were so many things in there. I saw rocks, bugs, prehistoric animals, modern animals and everything in between. I was also able to get a stuffed tiger which was one of the only things I wanted this trip. And the last place we went to was this really good restaurant. It was a giant buffet, and it was good food. Now we are all in the hotel and we are exhausted but it was a fun day.

Catherine

 
Today, after we visited Arlington National Cemetery and saw the changing of the guard, we had free time to visit whichever Smithsonian Museum we wanted. My group went to the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History. At American History we saw dresses the First Ladies wore to their husbands’ inaugurations (ranging from Martha Washington’s dress to Michelle Obama’s). We also saw Julia Child’s replica kitchen, with the really high countertops. At Natural History we saw Egyptian mummies, the Hope Diamond and the Hall of Human Origins. I wish we could have had more time at the museums to look at more stuff but we had to drive to New Jersey. I’m happy and sad about going home tomorrow. I had such a good time on this trip that I don’t want it to end, but I’m also looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my own bed in my own house. Look for us tomorrow on the Today Show around 8 in the morning, we’ll be wearing our blue coats.

--Shira

Our destinations today, as varied as they were, all had one major connection. They were designed to make you think. Between the World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum, and the Pentagon Memorial, seeing all the names of people who have died, really affected me. Seeing the exhibits at the Holocaust Museum and Memorial nearly brought me to tears, seeing the way they treated the people they considered the enemy-- Roma, Homosexuals, anybody they considered unclean; even going so far as the mentally and physically handicapped. They killed off people in asylums, some as young as 3 or 4 and used them for scientific experimentation. And my day of thinking continued at much the same pace as it started. Many of the soldiers at Iwo Jima were barely legal adults. Boys whose ages ranged from 17 to some as old as their 30’s fought for our country and gave their lives so we could live ours in freedom. It really opens my eyes seeing the sheer number of the people who have given their lives, their futures, to protect this beautiful country we call home.

– Becky

Today we went to the Holocaust Memorial and Museum as part of our experience on the Freedom Tour. Though people think it wasn’t that bad they realize that it was a horrible time period. Even though I am a boy, I started crying seeing all the shoes that represented the people in the Holocaust and the saw that the doctors would use to dissemble people’s body parts and put them in liquid. Also when they would just split families apart and then murder some of them and not tell them that they were murdered--for example in Daniel’s story he and his dad got separated from his mother and sister who were soon murdered at a concentration camp.

–Chad

Out of all of the days on the Freedom Tour so far, today was probably the saddest. We visited a lot of memorials and monuments in Washington D.C. today, and it was an extremely solemn day. The Holocaust Museum is the one that really hit me the hardest and is definitely something that I will not forget.

Having Polish ancestors that escaped from their country shortly after the prosecution of the Jewish people started made me realize that if they hadn’t left, a lot of the people on my dad’s side of the family wouldn’t be here right now. I knew a lot of people died, I just didn’t realize how many. Reading all of the information about the events from beginning to end really put things in perspective for me and realized how difficult it really was for all of those people. The part of the museum that made me tear up was the shoes. The shoes of the people in the concentration camp were removed and the best ones given to the Germans. But the rest of the shoes were not. Seeing all of those shoes was just extremely sad for me. When I reached the end of the museum, I was sad. All of those people were killed because they believe in something that the Germans didn’t like or understand. This all could have been avoided. Hopefully this shows that everyone is different and we should all be appreciated for our differences.


--Kara