Five students from Wrangell High School recently took a trip to Washington D.C. and New York City as a part of the Close Up Program, a national student government nonprofit. During their trip, they visited many important locations around the two cities, including the Holocaust Museum. At the museum they had the opportunity to meet Louis de Groot (center), a Holocaust survivor. Pictured from left to right are Adriana Larrabee, Jing O'Brien, Laura Helgeson, Madison Blackburn, and Skylar Larrabee.
Five Wrangell High School students recently returned from a trip to Washington D.C. and New York City, as a part of the Close Up program.
Close Up is a nonprofit student government nonprofit organization, according to Sarah Whittlesey-Merritt with the Wrangell Legislative Information Office. The program brings high school students from schools across the country to visit the two cities, learn about government, and foster an interest in politics. Merritt has been involved in the Close Up program for about 12 years, she said. She, along with students Jing O'Brien, Skyler and Adrianna Larrabee, Madison Blackburn, and Laura Helgeson travelled to the east coast from April 26 to May 6.
The program involves students learning a lot about how American politics work and what all is involved with running the country. There are numerous workshops the students attend, and they also hold a mock Congress where they learn how to create a bill and work to turn it into a law. Merritt also said that they get to sit in and listen to a debate between a liberal and a conservative on a current event or topic, to learn debate skills. This year's debate was on climate change, she said.
"It's to get the high school students, because they're our future leaders, engaged and enlightened, and excited about government," Merritt said.
Besides workshops and learning about government, the students also got to see some of the major sights around D.C. and New York. Merritt took the group to see "Into The Woods" at Ford's Theater, and also "King Kong" on Broadway. They also visited the Lincoln Memorial and other sites. One stop that Merritt pointed out in particular was a trip to the Holocaust Museum, where the group got to meet survivor Louis de Groot. The kids are also all divided into different groups, with kids from different schools, so they can learn from them about life in different parts of the country. In all, she said, this trip was much more than just teaching this group of students about politics.
"They're getting culture, they're getting education, they get school," Merritt said. "They're going basically from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and that is the whole trip so they are exhausted. But we cram everything in and they really learn."
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