Washington DC College Tour

On October 26^th, 2010 myself, Ms. Regina and nine others had a once in a life time opportunity to go on a five day college tour to Washington DC.  We all left on Tuesday morning and started our amazing 5 hour plane trip that was sponsored by Southwest Airlines. We first landed in Nashville, Tennessee for layover and I loved how the trees looked in the fall there. We landed in the DC area at about 8pm and didn’t get the hotel till 11pm. It took us a while to unpack but after we did we all went quickly to sleep.

Our first day in Washington DC started early as we had to wake up at 6am even though we were still not use to the three hour east coast time difference. We got dressed up for the White House tour and for all of us to be interviewed by a local news station back in the Bay Area. After breakfast we did an interview. The interview went really well and Ms. Regina was proud of all of us. We then made our way to the White House for the tour which I enjoyed very much because of all the different rooms and all of the history. Then after that we went to the University of Georgetown. I really like the campus. After that we went to get a special tour of the Capital Building from one of our own EOYDC summer workers Dominae, who is a Congressional Page. I liked seeing the bullet hole in one of the rooms. The final thing we did that day was go to Ambassador Ronald Kirk’s office and had a really interesting meeting in which we talked about the world’s trading and economy.

The second day was just as interesting as the first. We visited the World Bank which was in my mind one of the best things we did the whole trip. There we met with some workers that told us how World Bank started and works. One of the people that we met was Eric Chinje, a Manager in Media Development. I very much enjoyed his time speaking to us and he made me consider a future career in Media Development. After this we had the huge honor of meeting the United States Treasurer Rosie Rios. Treasurer Rios gave us a VIP tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Imprinting. After that we went to see the Holocaust Museum. The museum was very informational and taught much more about the treatment of Jews during World War II.

The third day started off with us going to the University of George Washington. We also went to the University of Howard’s campus for a tour. It was homecoming weekend.  There were plenty of festivities with a huge number of crowds. Our tour was fun because we got to see what college life was like during homecoming. I enjoyed their business administration programs because now I know what it takes to be a successful in business. I liked the third day because the tours made me think and concentrate more about what I want to do in the future.

On the fourth and final day we went to Howard’s homecoming football game. The game was a really good but sadly Howard lost to Norfolk State 10 - 9. But the game for me wasn’t the best part. The best part for me was the marching bands of both schools. The style was so different from what I was use to back home. One of the things the bands did was take very popular R&B and hip hop songs and play the beats of those songs. The bands had every body at the game dancing, including me. What a way to end this amazing trip.

To conclude, I would like to thank everyone who helped make this experience possible and the great individuals I met during the trip. But most of all I would like to thank EOYDC. Without EOYDC I would have not been able to do see all of the things that I wrote about.  I love playing sports but this trip let me know that I’m not just an athlete but more importantly a student athlete.  This trip encouraged me to study harder and get my GPA to 4.0. This special program has been with me since I was a small child. I have grown up in this program and plan stay with EOYDC for as long as I live.

Sincerely,

Bryce J. Bell