PHOTO BY SUMMER STORHOLT

Columbia Junior High School students (clockwise) Summer Storholt (in red), Montana Marks, Scott Campbell and Amber Swayze lead off with their right foot as they were instructed to do during the ceremony to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Students spend spring break in Washington, D.C.

By Matt Nagle

A group of 30 eighth-graders from Columbia Junior High, and six chaperones, spent their spring break learning all about American history in our nation’s capital. History teacher Joe Storholt organized the trip to Washington, D.C., Mount Vernon, Jamestown, and colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and other historic sites in the region, which he has done annually for the past eight years.

“I enjoy taking the kids to the places we actually talk about in class,” Storholt said. “They get to see where some of the revolutionary thoughts and ideas took place, the first successful settlement at Jamestown, then to D.C. for the museums and archives and to see where our government works.”

Through a walk-athon, a rummage sale and sponsorships the students raised their own funds to pay for the trip.

The students were kept constantly on the go every day of their visit. “We fit a lot of things into one day,” said student Scott Campbell. “We had a huge itinerary.”

Campbell and three of his classmates, Summer Storholt, Montana Marks and Amber Swayze, were given the great honor of placing a wreath decorated with a Columbia Junior High School ribbon at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Their teacher made the arrangements months in advance, and the four students were chosen from among their classmates based on an essay each wrote about why they wanted to lay the wreath at the tomb.  

“I thought it would be a good honor to do the same thing that presidents get to do,” Campbell said.

“I said I’d like to be able to come back and say that I got to do that because it’s pretty cool that not many people get to do it,” said Swayze.

Their teacher, Storholt, said the students “really didn’t know what to expect.” His daughter, Summer, was among those who laid the wreath. “It was a pretty emotional experience for her, which made it a pretty emotional experience for me,” her dad said.

All four students said they were awed by the somber event. It was a hot day, nearly 80 degrees and humid, with a large crowd gathered to watch.

“Everybody had to stand and be really quiet,” Swayze said. The Tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by specially trained members of the 3rd United States Infantry. Before the ceremony started, the four students were briefed by guards on what was expected of them, including wearing the appropriate attire as only dress clothing is allowed, with no large emblems or brand names visible.

“The guards were really precise on everything they did,” Swayze noted. “I was nervous to do it, and I thought the guard who was coming to speak to us was going to be real strict and firm but he was really nice.”

Marching in formation was a new experience for the group. “We all had to start off on our right foot and stay the same,” Campbell said. “That’s what the soldier told us to do, and I think we did a pretty good job.”

The four remarked at how quiet it was while one of the guards played Taps on a trumpet.

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Marks said.

Every day of the trip was filled with sights for the students to see and experience. They went up to the 500-foot level of the Washington Monument, saw the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, visited the Air and Space Museum, Lincoln Memorial, Capital Building, and the National Archives, where they got to view the Declaration of Independence, Mayflower Compact, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They visited the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. They even got to see a show at Lincoln Center, the long-running play “Shear Madness.”

The Holocaust Memorial Museum made a big impact on the students. “It was really sad,” Marks said. “At the very end there was a video playing about six survivors telling their stories. Me and the group I was with just sat and watched that for like 45 minutes just because it was so gripping.”

The students said they were surprised by everything there was to see and do on their trip. “I thought I wouldn’t learn as much as I did. I learned a lot,” Swayze said. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom the day they left, leaving them with good memories. Swayze said, “I had never seen them like that before. They smelled so good.”

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