Day 5: The rich history of Washington, DC

Thursday morning started with an early breakfast so Nancy could get us on the road and headed towards Washington to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Once on the bus, we all enjoyed some quiet time to catch a few zzzz’s for the first hour or so to help prepare us for the busy schedule we have over the next few days. Throughout the morning we had the opportunity to meet with our Issues Analysis Project teams to discuss progress on our projects, identify key action items that need to be completed in the coming months, and ensure we are all on track to complete the projects on time.

Throughout the remainder of the 8-hour drive from Albany, NY, to Washington, DC, we had the opportunity to practice our public speaking skills through some off-the-cuff exercises. Topics ranged from the product/organizational branding we have seen thus far on our trip, to comparisons between Ontario’s AALP program and New York’s LEAD program, to what we have learned from AALP through our 10+ months so far in the program.

After lunch the class crowded to the front of the bus for a great interactive discussion about our 2018 Dream Auction! We brain-stormed possible themes, ideas for decorations and food, live music options and other possibilities for change, improvement and overall success of our 2018 Dream Auction.

Following our lively discussion of the Dream Auction, we took a little time to reflect on the previous day’s excursions and to prepare ourselves for the upcoming stop at the Holocaust Museum.

We arrived at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum around 3:30, leaving us with just under 2 hours to experience this amazing museum. From the moment we walked in, you could feel the significance of what had happened approximately 75-80 years ago. We were each given an ID card as we entered the Museum, which told the story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust. The tour started with photos of the day the camps were liberated and what the conditions were like. From there, it went back to the very beginning and told the story of how it all began in 1933 when Hitler was first elected as Chancellor. With only 2 hours, we did not have the opportunity to see the entire Museum in detail, however what we were able to see moved us all.

After finishing our tour of the Holocaust Museum, we headed for dinner and to meet our tour guide, Kenny, for our Evening Tour of Washington, DC. Kenny was full of “fun facts” throughout our tour, such as Washington being the 2nd-Rudest City when it comes to drivers, and that the White House has 20 black Canadian squirrels living on the grounds.

Our tour started at the Capitol Building, where the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are housed. Another “fun fact” we learned from Kenny is that the flags on either wing of the building signify whether the Senate or the House are in session -- if the flags are flying the House of Representatives and the Senate are in session.

Next we headed to the White House. We had the opportunity to see a small, yet rapidly growing crowd of protestors gathering across the street from the White House. From the White House we travelled down the street a few buildings to the Blair House, which serves as the President's guest house. We then hopped back on the bus to head over to the Jefferson Memorial, followed by the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial which sits on 7.4 acres of land, making it the largest memorial in the United States. We then walked to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the Stone of Hope monument. From there we travelled to the Korean Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall.

This was an amazing day, packed full with many hours both on the bus and on foot, learning about the rich history that is Washington, DC.

We are looking forward to continuing our exploration of Washington, DC, tomorrow!

-Class16

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Climate change worries Canadian farmers: poll

A poll released Dec. 11 suggests that Canadian farmers worry more about the impacts of climate change than they do about input costs and market prices for canola, corn, wheat and cattle. The poll of 858 producers from coast to coast determined that farmers rank climate change as their No. 1 concern. “When farmers and ranchers were asked an open-ended question—at the very beginning of the poll—about the top challenge for the agricultural sector for the next decade, climate change was the number one answer,” says Farmers for Climate Solutions, a group, that as its name suggests, is focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation within Canadian agriculture. The organization hired Leger, a market research firm, to conduct the survey. It was done by phone from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8. The headline question from the poll asked farmers to identify the top challenge for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years. The results? 17.9 per cent said climate change. Input costs were 17.2 pe

Livestock producers are warned to watch for a larval disease

A disease that lives off the flesh of living mammals has been confirmed in Chiapas, Mexico. New World screwworm (NWS) is a parasitic larval disease of warm-blooded animals where the female fly will lay eggs near an open wound and the larvae can infest the wound and cause significant infections. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people. Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton said the confirmation comes on the heels of a report in October from Guatemala where the first case was identified. “This larva and the fly were identified at the Mexican border in cattle that were coming through in Guatemala and so this is a very significant concern of especially grazing animals but really of any warm-blooded animal,” she said. “It does cause destruction when a wound gets infected.” Animals can exhibit very painful draining wounds that don’t heal. It has a negative impact on production and can include mortality o

Durum Ending Stocks Tighter from November

Agriculture Canada has whittled down its 2024-25 durum ending stocks estimate from last month, although it remains up from a year earlier. Monthly government supply-demand estimates released Thursday showed durum ending stocks at 650,000 tonnes, down 150,000 from the November forecast but still well up from the previous year’s 407,000. The reduction reflects Statistics Canada’s Dec. 5 crop production report which put this year’s Canadian durum crop to 5.87 million tonnes, down from the federal agency’s previous estimate in September of just over 6 million. However, this year’s durum crop is still 44% larger than the 2023 harvest, 20% above average and the sixth largest on record. Ag Canada trimmed its domestic use estimate slightly to reflect this month’s downward revision in the durum crop, but left its export forecast unchanged from last month at 4.9 million tonnes, up from 3.558 million in 2023-24 but still below over 5 million in 2022-23. At $325/tonne, the average expecte

Alberta Canola Seeks Grower Support for First Service Charge Increase in 20 Years

Alberta Canola is urging canola growers to approve its first service charge increase in over two decades. The proposed change—from $1 per tonne to $1.75 per tonne—will be put to a vote at the organization’s Annual General Meeting on Jan. 22, 2025. The increase is critical to addressing financial challenges and ensuring Alberta Canola can continue supporting farmers amid rising operating costs, declining production, and evolving industry pressures. A Challenging Landscape “Alberta Canola was built by farmers, for farmers, and that hasn’t changed in our 35 years,” says Karla Bergstrom, Executive Director of Alberta Canola. “What?has?changed is the world we operate within.” Bergstrom highlights the dual challenges of reduced public research funding and increased regulatory demands. Meanwhile, consumers, increasingly removed from farming, are demanding greater transparency in food production. With over 90% of its operating revenue coming from its service charge, Alberta Canola has face

BMO underscores trends affecting Canadian agriculture

The Bank of Montreal has published an in-depth analysis of nine key trends. Here’s a topline of several economic indicators and what to expect in 2025. ???????

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service