When the Brookwood School 8th grade class visited Washington, D.C., Feb. 27-March 3, the 34 students, 14 chaperones and four teachers covered a lot of territory.
Lower and Middle School Director Ashley Harper enjoyed calculating the distance traveled by the group.
"We went 1,538 miles by air, 74 miles by motor coach, 29 miles by the Metro system -- or subway, and 30 miles by foot," Harper said. "So we traveled a total of 2,671 miles, and, being awake about 17 hours a day, we were moving at an average of 20 miles per hour our entire trip."
The first day, the Brookwood group not only visited George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, the students participated in the "After Dark" experience there.
"We had full run of the museum for two hours after the closing," Harper explained.
"On Sunday, we went to church at the National Cathedral, and four of our Episcopalian students were able to carry up the elements for communion and participate in the service," said Harper.
At Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, the Brookwood group drove past the funeral service for Alexander Haig, who served as the White House chief of staff under President Nixon and secretary of state during the Reagan administration.
The 8th graders toured the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument, the National Air and Space Museum, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Pentagon, the Library of Congress and participated in the Washington After Dark and Memorials Tour.
The group also attended a Wynton Marsalis concert at the Kennedy Center and ice skated at the Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery.
The annual tour of Washington is a longstanding tradition at Brookwood for Middle School students.
Tyler Thompson, Hunter Avera, Will Howe and Blair Davis participated in the solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
