Today flew by- we left the National 4-H Conference Center at 8:15 am this morning. We meet with Jeff Merkily, Suzanne Bonamici, Curt Scheber and Peter DeFazio.
We also saw the Botanic Gardens, Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Jefferson Library and Native American Museum.
My feet are just about worn off from walking miles underground and above but I wouldn't trade this trip for anything. (We are all a little bit of walking zombies.) Tomorrow we leave the conference center at 4am. I am not looking forward to getting up at 3am... however I am so glad we got to do so much here and meet so many wonderful people.
Tonight I had dinner with the delegates from Canada, we have a roommate from California and I made friends with kids all around the country. Im disappointed I can't come back next year! I will be back hopefully when I'm old enough to help run a roundtable discussion team.
Thank you mom and dad for raising me to be the young woman I am today. Thank you to the National 4-H center for having us Thank you Maggie and Janie for being amazing roommates and Oregon delegates Thank you Rachel for joining us in the fun! And Teresa for keeping us from getting lost in big buildings Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip a big success.
Sorry for posting this late. Yesterday was a complete blast!
I gave my presentation on MediaSmart Youth and spent time talking to a lady who works for the FDA. Had dinner at the USDA building and talked to a few other states.
What really made the night special was going on a night tour of the mall. It was heart breaking and uplifting seeing our history. If you are going to Washington D.C I recommend seeing them at night because of how pretty they are lit up. We got to see the newest one too- the Martin Luther King Jr. statue! I can't wait to come back soon..
Last night was a late night and we had an even earlier morning the following day.
My alarm did not go off this morning, Lucky for us, breakfast was extended until 8:15. After that however we were able to get right back on track. We spent most of our time in our round tables and did another work shop on team building.
We also gave our round table topic presentations to the chaperones. We had dinner, a discussion with a bunch of kids about religion (very interesting view points) and a murder mystery. Yes thats right! A murder mystery.... I was selected to be in group 5, which we won of course!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow we give our round table presentation to NIFA/USDA..
Breakfast and an intro. The keynote speaker brought up some interesting points to us. One was about making a difference and another was just living in the moment. Next time when you get the feelings to put on a fake smile, don't. Think about how you truly feel. Tell the truth to yourself and others. This is the only way you can live a life full of pure joy.
We broke off into groups next. I had the pleasure of being picked to be part of the Media Smart Youth Health Team. We played ice breakers and started to plan out our presentation for the FDA.
After lunch we went to talk about our strength finder quiz that we took before coming to National Conference. My top 5 strengths are self-assurance, strategic, restorative, woo and achiever. We did a few activities to learn how our strengths can help us teach and inspire youth. We met up again after dinner to do group activities with another class. This posed an interesting message and result. As a team of 7 trying to build a card tower we decided to use the words spoken carefully. Our card WAS the tallest however we missed the point (we disagree).
This evening we got a special treat- African dancers! They were amazing and even brought up our peers on stage to dance. Too bad Teresa refused to go up and dance :(
I ended up opting out of line dancing in favor of sleep. However it is 10:25pm and I'm still up *sigh*.
I did sit in and living room and talk with kids from Ohio. I hoped that Oregon has more people apply next year. So far it has been a blast and I can't wait for tomorrow.
After a rocky landing and 30 minute cab ride we are unpacked in our rooms.
Maggie, Janie and I are all in a bunk bed room (What fun!). I promise to upload photos tomorrow when we get to tour the buildings at the 4-H center. Tomorrow starts at a whopping 5am for me.
On the flight in we got to see the Washington monument, and capital building. I can't wait for tomorrows activities.........