Washington D.C. 2025
This year's 2025 8th Grade Washington DC trip marks the 25th year in a row students from Carlisle Junior High have had the opportunity to go and visit the nation's capital. After a 10-hour bus ride through the night, students got off the bus and had breakfast at the Washington Inn at Mount Vernon. From there students had about 2 hours to explore the grounds of Mount Vernon including his mansion, outside kitchen, stables, the wharf and his 16-sided wheat barn which was an agricultural marvel at the time. Students were able to visit and see many of the outside memorials such as the 9-11 Pentagon Memorial, WWII, Vietnam, and Korean war memorials and the Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR and Martin Luther King JR memorials. Students also got to spend time in the Natural Science Smithsonian and Holocaust museums to learn about these events and see artifacts related to them. Inside the US Capitol building, the students went on an hour-long guided tour of the Rotunda, crypt and hall of statues. The students were also some of the first to see the new hands-on kids experience at the Archives after they saw the 3 charters of freedom. Perhaps the highlight of the trip was getting to watch Camden Harness, Alex Workman, Adelyn Hawkins, and Lainy Winkler participate in the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown soldiers at Arlington Cemetery. Before returning home to Carlisle in time for Thanksgiving, students got a 2-hour guided tour of the battle of Gettysburg where they got to explore and learn about all the intricacies related to this famous battle
