Mission complete. Memories made. In April, Jessica Williams, a local educator came and spoke at a Carmi Kiwanis Club’s noon meeting to discuss her goal of making regular Washington, D.C. trips available to students.
Read more at… https://www.wrul.com/local-news/williams-preparing-to-take-two-dozen-cwchs-students-on-d-c-trip
On June 3rd, she along with two other chaperones, embarked on the excursion with 23 kids from Carmi-White County and they crammed about 6-7 days worth of sightseeing into 3 ½ days. She came back to Kiwanis Thursday to debrief the club on their maiden trip.
Aside from the laundry list of historic monuments, museums, and memorials visited, Williams says the kids learned some important life skills including the importance of Dramamine on flights, how to eat economically (some of the places they stopped to eat charge by the pound and in one case, by the ounce), and they even learned how to barter.
I mean there would be like 30 different ice cream and slushie trucks set up around the National Mall all the time. Our kids learned how to barter. They don’t have prices on the trucks so they can set it wherever they want. Sometimes you’d go up and say how much and they’d tell you $7 or $8 for this slushie. Our tour guide, Jason, he said don’t be afraid to haggle with them. So one of our boys got them down to $3 or $4…$2? I missed that one. And the kids learned. That was an important life lesson for them. We don’t haggle for things here other than vehicles and they didn’t know you could do that with food so it was really cool. And slushies…I’ve never seen kids drink so many slushies…in…my…life.
In addition to humorous and emotional memories, there were some poignant moments as well. One of the students, Dakota Southerd found a family members name at the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance. The group also caught up with former Carmi resident Florence Dungy who now lives in D.C. Her and her brother graduated from Carmi Township High in the early 60’s. She now serves as an usher at the Washington National Cathedral.
The national capital trips will take place every 4 years with another offering every 2 years and Thursday Williams unveiled the next destination. She, along with up to 3 other adult chaperones will accompany up to 40 students on a trip to Boston in 2026. A parent meeting is scheduled for August 27th.
