One Hundred and Sixteen people boarded two tour busses at 5AM on Wednesday, June 13th at Lisbon Community School. You may be asking, who were all these people and where were they going at this time in the morning? Well, the people were the Lisbon band and choral students from grades 6 through 12, adult chaperones and the Lisbon Music Directors. We were headed to Washington D.C. some 10 to 11 hours away to participate in the National Anthem Project. We arrived in Washington D.C. at 5:30 PM where we had dinner at the Ronald Reagan Building. Then off to the Quality Inn Dulles hotel in Virginia and lights were out at 10:00 PM. Now you may be asking, what was this National Anthem Project? Well, back in the spring I wrote an article that explained what the project was about and why we were going. So to recap, the National Anthem Project was the culminating event where students from all over the country were going to sing the National Anthem on the grounds of the Washington monument. Also, as part of the weekend festivities each group attending were allowed to perform concerts at national monuments throughout the Washington area. We also were able to include a fair amount of site seeing.

On Thursday we headed for the capital just after breakfast and started our first long walk along the mall from the Capital Building to the Washington Monument. After finding Sylvan Theater, where the National Anthem Project Grand finale was to be held later in the day, we headed off to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was neat seeing all the planes and space vehicles on display.

After lunch at the Ronald Reagan Building we walked back to the Sylvan Theater at the base of the Washington Monument where we joined forces with student groups from all over the US. While there we were entertained by the Marine Corps Band playing a number of patriotic songs. Also, Miss America and other State Beauty Queens were there to talk to us and sign autographs. Then around 2PM the singing group the Oak Ridge Boys joined the Marine Corps Band on stage and led everyone in the singing of our National Anthem. This was the climax of the National Anthem Project Grand finale; it was really fantastic having some 15,000 to 20,000 kids and adults singing the National Anthem all at the same time. After the trip my mom said, “The most emotional thing on the trip was hearing all those voices singing our National Anthem.”

After the Grand Finale we headed back to the other end of the Washington Mall and to the back steps of the Capital Building. There we met with Maine Senator Susan Collins who told us how proud she was that we were representing the State of Maine at this event. She answered our questions for over a half hour and posed for a large group photo with us. After that some of her assistants led us on a guided tour of the Capital Building. It was really neat learning about the history of the building and stories about our founding fathers. After this we had dinner at the Pentagon City Mall and were all able to do a little Washington D.C. shopping before heading back to the hotel.

After breakfast on Friday we headed back into Washington D.C. to go to the Sylvan Theater where our choral group performed. Our group performed patriotic songs, then we stayed to listen to other groups from around the U.S. perform. One group from the Mid-West was a bell choir and wore black cowboy outfits. After lunch our busses took us to the World War II Memorial for the American Musical Salute/National Anthem band performance. Our band performed a number of patriotic songs including, starting our performance with the National Anthem. After the concert my dad said, “It was really amazing to see people from all over the US and maybe the world stop in their tracks to listen to our young performer play the National Anthem.”

We then spent the afternoon at one of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museums. At this museum we got to see the Hope Diamond that was on display. For dinner we went to Union Station, and then we headed back to the Washington Monument area to take an evening guided tour of the monuments and memorials around D.C. This was a great tour that started at the Korean War Memorial; we then walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. From there we walked to the Vietnam War Memorial Wall, for many of us this was a very emotional place. After this we continued our walk to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial and then walked we walked along the reflecting pool back to the World War II Memorial. Finally, we headed to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial on the busses.

On Saturday we checked out of the hotel and departed for the Smithsonian National Zoo. We had 3 hours to enjoy the zoo, before having lunch. At the zoo we saw the Pandas and lots of other animals including monkeys, small reptiles, elephants and lots of exotic birds. At 12:45 we departed from the zoo and headed home.

After our trip I asked a few of the students and parents about what their favorite memory about the trip was. Nicholas Corey said, “What I liked most about our WDC trip is I liked visiting all of the memorials!! – Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial Wall and Roosevelt Memorial. They were all very cool!!”

Nick’s brother Alex said, “What I liked most about the WDC trip was I enjoyed watching the Marines Band play. It was amazing. I also enjoyed walking and seeing the Vietnam Memorial Wall. I mostly enjoyed playing at the WWII Memorial. There were off duty and retired military people there. They watched us play and they told us how cool it was that we were there playing.”

One of our chaperones, Mrs. Michaud said, “What I liked most about our WDC trip is not one specific thing. I enjoyed our trip so much. I had never been and was just completely amazed by all of the memorials. I was most touched by the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It was amazing and sad at the same time. I was so impressed with the students. When we started walking the wall, they were all talking and joking. I told them what the wall meant. They then started asking questions, and relating this war to their relatives, “oh, my grandfather served in the Vietnam War”. The immediately became quite and said they wanted to respect the wall and the names on it. They started reading the names, and realizing the significance of how many names are on it, and that it represents men and women who died and are still missing. Some were even crying when we reached the other side of the wall. To see this transformation in the students and to see them realize this was truly amazing.”

In conclusion, I can say that the trip was both fun and educational and wish that every student could take part in a trip like this.