6th Grade Service Learning Trip to Washington, D.C.

Our 6th Grade students traveled to Washington, D.C., in early March for a service learning trip with KidUnity. We are so proud of our students and the work they did preparing for the trip. It was incredible to see them in action, ably and proudly representing Carlthorp School as journalists, meeting with congressional representatives and other influential policy makers. This program is one of the many opportunities our 6th Graders have to demonstrate the skills they have developed over the past seven years: teamwork, research & analysis, critical thinking, and presentation & communication skills.
This is the second year of our Alumni Fellowship program, and four Carlthorp School alumni currently attending Campbell Hall, Marlborough, and Harvard-Westlake traveled to Washington, D.C., with our students and successfully fulfilled the role of teaching assistants, mentors and chaperones to our 6th Grade students. Impressive doesn’t even do justice to how we feel about these four remarkable 11th and 12th Grade alumni.

We hope you followed the KidUnity and Carlthorp School Twitter feeds and saw how incredibly thought-provoking the trip was. If you didn’t, there is still time to check them out.

We are so grateful to KidUnity co-founders and Carlthorp parents Peter Sheehy and David Snow for working collaboratively with our 6th Grade teachers, Mr. Gallagher, and school administratorsto put together such an enriching and memorable five days! Our students certainly maximized the opportunity to learn, to advocate, to explore, to reflect, and to enjoy our nation’s capital.  

Some of the highlights from the trip included:

LAWMAKERS:

Rep. David Cicilline
Rep. Joe Kennedy

MEDIA:

Bret Baier, Fox News
Phil Mattingly, CNN (interviewed at Capitol)
Bob Cusack, Editor In Chief, The Hill
Phil Rucker, White House Correspondent, Washington Post
Jonathan Capehart, Op/Ed Columnist, Washington Post
Juliet Eilperin, Environmental Reporter, Washington Post
Nick Wadhams, National Security Reporter, Bloomberg News
Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Marine Debris Division
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Drinking Water Protection Division
USAID, Afghanistan & Haitian Divisions

NGOs:

World Wildlife Fund (Students attended their annual summit and reception)
Greenpeace
Save the Children
Global Fund for Children
UNICEF
Environmental Defense Fund
World Central Kitchen (meeting at Chef José Andrés’s Oyamel Restaurant)
Education Reimagined
Clean Water Action
Conservation International
The Education Trust
Teach for America
Climate Action Network
American Youth Policy Forum
Ocean Conservancy

POLICY EXPERTS:

Melanie Nakagawa, CEO of Climate Initiative  
Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club
Jeremy Bash, Former Chief of Staff, Department of Defense & CIA
Eric Fanning, President and CEO of Aerospace Industries Association, former Secretary of the Army
Jen Psaki, Former White House Communications Director, President Obama
Eric Schultz, Former Senior Advisor to President Obama
Jeff Nussbaum, speech writer for former VP Joe Biden
Capricia Marshall, former US Protocol Ambassador, President Obama
Christina Reynolds, Vice President, Communications, Emily’s List

FOREIGN EMBASSIES:

Embassy of Brazil
Embassy of Lithuania

MUSEUMS & MONUMENTS:

Newseum
National Geographic
National Archives
Air & Space Museum
Capitol (where students had a special visit to the Speaker’s Balcony overlooking the Mall)
National Galleries
National Portrait Gallery
Ford’s Theater
Lincoln Memorial (where students recited the Gettysburg Address)
White House
Jefferson Memorial (for an a.m. fun run)
MLK Memorial
FDR Memorial
Vietnam Memorial
 
Back
    • CS students in front of the Washington Monument

    • CS Fellows with Jan Psaki and Eric Schultz

    • CS students at the National Gallery

    • CS students in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall at the Newseum

    • CS students meeting with Rep. Joe Kennedy

    • CS students at Fox News