Reminiscing

~Sigh~ 

~That was a wonderful trip~

The smooth-riding elevator slowed to a stop and we stepped off into a small lookout area at the top of America’s oldest monument (the Washington Monument). I couldn’t help but connect the essence of our trip to this moment. It was the visual representation of so many moments up to that point.

In so many ways, our adventure to Washington D.C. was the pinnacle of excellence and growth for each of us. We were among journalist giants, both novice and professional. Just four rows in front of us, Bob Woodward spoke with authority and precision, riddled with nuggets of wisdom worth more than any mere price tag. Our students shook the hands of Jay Harris from ESPN. Marybeth Tinker was among a star-studded collection of journalists, cartoonists, producers, editors, writers, poets, graphic designers, photographers, and advisers who trained our students face-to-face. My Editor in Chief and other Editors were able to reach out to and collaborate with countless other students, editors, and professionals. These experiences were punctuated by our opportunities to “break with a pro” and our “on-site critique” in more private settings. As I’ve described before, this was collaboration and growth on steroids.

Not every expectation was met. As with anything this exhaustive, some experiences leave much to be desired. Some things were cancelled, some were overcrowded, and some weren’t quite as advertised.

However, the overwhelming breadth of learning and exploration from this trip was astounding. One student said, “This was my favorite trip of my high school years.” To this I wanted to say, “Was that worth mentioning? I think that conclusion is a given.”

I don’t mean to belittle other experiences these students have accrued throughout their education to this point. In fact, this may not have been the very best trip for every student. The opportunity for such a conclusion was possible, however. At the very least, I think they can say it was one of their greatest experiences.

I’d like to note a general sense of what we did each day. Then, I’d like to add some anecdotes at the end of this post in order to help each of our readers peer into an experience or two from our time away. 

Wed, Nov 5:

On November 5^th, we embarked to Washington D.C. from Almaty. It was a rough go of it, which included a hefty fine, a four-hour delayed flight, a fight with officials at the airport, threats to remove luggage along with snarky comments such as, “send the little girl home,” and an eventual allowance for departure coupled with a warm cup of “good luck getting back into the country” behind snarled glares.

Alas, we were off, only to discover that we needed a special escort, along with a delayed plane, to allow us to connect with our flight in London. They nearly departed with half of our group on the plane. That would have been interesting to say the least.

In the ruckus of it all, our luggage failed to arrive in Washington DC. We were given $50 and we dashed off to Walmart for our first American-culture experience.

Upon arrival at the hotel, rooms we had booked ended up not being guaranteed (we ended up getting what we wanted anyway, after a quick scare) and our cell phones did not arrive.

It was a long night.

Thursday, Nov 6:

We bustled about in various pre-convention workshops. The pre-convention workshops were varied and intense (some lasting 8 hours). I spent time with other advisers, my former mentors, my former yearbook reps, and registering students.

Thereafter, we grabbed food, if there was time, registered for the convention, acquired our sweatshirts, and went to hear Bob Woodward.

It is a shame that the students, understandably so, were too tired to absorb the content. Bob was sharp and provided both wisdom and anecdotes that will be cherished by thousands forever. In my experiences at the convention, this was the crowning moment. This was the very best the convention gave us.

Late that night, the cell phones finally arrived! Communication at last.

Most went to bed afterward, while a few of us dashed off for Lebanese food late that night.

Friday, Nov 7:

Once again we were at it first thing in the morning. Our luggage arrived around 1am Friday morning. Students dashed down the halls to rescue their kidnapped luggage. With fresh clothes, we could finally turn our attention, fully, onto the work and learning at hand.

This day was a smattering of media tour trips. Students were spread out throughout Washington D.C. and on-site. Upon their return, there were training sessions they attended, a key note address from Jay Harris, write-off competitions, and a team trivia night. They were exhausted that evening.

This was my busiest day. I was invited to breakfast in the morning with my mentor. I was busy involved in a write-off for four hours (interviewed for three straight hours). I was part of an evening of judging along with Mrs. Lawrence. I, too, found myself exhausted at the end of the day.

Saturday, Nov 8:

Sessions began as early as 8am. I had breakfast with my former yearbook reps and invited some of our AIS kids. It was a wonderful time. Thereafter, we all attended workshops. This is the busiest day for workshops. We didn’t finish until late that evening. We ended with a party to celebrate Harsha and Katie (former students of AIS, now living on the east coast) that evening and ate too much pizza.

Sunday, Nov 9:

Today was a day of packing up and going to the awards ceremony. It was hard to sit through several hours of awards and not receive any. I think the students are a bit irritated and want to get back here next year and win some awards.[hint, hint: It’s in Orlando around this time next year].

Thereafter, we were bussed to the Pentagon mall to go shopping and spend time with family and friends. We discovered that there were some problems with communication on that first day with our driver; we needed to rectify some things so as to prevent him from being reprimanded. Sophia caught up with a friend, I caught up with a former family from AIS (teacher and student) and Katie and Harsha tagged along with us.

That evening we checked into our new hotel (with additional problems of course). Confusion abounded. At last, all was clarified and we were resting up for what would be a heavy schedule of tours.

Monday, Nov 10:

The places we visited during this day were the Arlington Cemetery, The Vietnam Memorial, The Korean War Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, and Georgetown University.

In the middle of our evening tours of the monuments

We had excellent food throughout.

Tuesday, Nov 11:

In front of the White House. It seems Linda didn't want to be in the shot. ;)

The places we visited during this day were the US Capitol, Kazakh Embassy, The White House, The Jefferson Memorial, The US Marine Corps Memorial, American University, and the MLK Memorial.

We had excellent food throughout.

Wednesday, Nov 12:

The places we visited during this day were The American History Museum, Newseum, The Holocaust Museum, The Archives, The Washington Monument, Union Station, and then back to our hotel to stay in the lobby due to yet another snafu—a 6 hour delay in our flight.

We had excellent food throughout.

At 4am, Thursday, Nov 13^th, we departed for London. Once in London, we had a couple hours to soak in the final moments together on this trip and reflect. We had our final powwow and boarded the plane. Of course, our plane was delayed to inspect technical problems with the plane. After a short delay, we were on our way to Almaty.

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I cherish these trips. I feel like these are the real learning opportunities where a grade isn’t looming over anyone’s head. There’s simply an encouragement to explore and learn at one’s own pace and with one's own methods. The responsibility meter rackets up a few notches and students are left to figure out what they want to learn and when and how.

Another thing I cherish about the environment is the opportunity to communicate with young people as if they are exactly that—young people. I get to be real and human with them. There’s a leveling of the playing field, and this is something I love to see in a learning environment. Sure, I’m still the adult on the trip and there are some obligatory things still in the mix for these “students,” but it’s a far freer environment with which to learn and ask questions. Sometimes we talked about life. Sometimes we simply threw banter around. Sometimes we shared the values of relationships or learning or memorials or integrity or journalistic ethics or freedom or slavery or atrocities or dealing with pain in life or being flexible. It becomes a rich, fertile platform for learning that avoids the hindrance of things such as grades or assessments (formal) or timelines or judgements. They will have learned more in this week than I could possibly teach over many months. I think this growth I’m referencing can be mostly attributed to the freedom, differentiation, and opportunities available on a trip like ours.

 

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There are some memories I value from this excursion:

“Where is Bob?”

This story is more Mrs. Lawrence’s than mine. If you know her and have a moment, ask her to retell this story; she tells it well. Just the few minutes I was included were hilarious; I can’t imagine my story had I experienced the whole thing.

As we prepared for our first key note speaker, I asked the students to be ready by 6:15pm and grab a seat in the auditorium. There wouldn’t be enough seats that evening for the 6000+ people in attendance. The event actually started at 7:30pm and was listed in our schedule as such. Everyone was too tired to check our schedule, though. So when I said it started at 7pm (in order to get us all moving toward the auditorium and to lift spirits due to an earlier start time), no one batted an eye.

Seven o’clock came and went. Behind me I heard snickering and irritation. I soon discover that Mrs. Lawrence can hardly contain her laughter as Nastya repeats her disdain for Bob and his unprofessional ways [part sarcasm mixed with annoyance at me mixed with utter exhaustion]. “How can Bob be late? He’s a professional. He should know better. Where is Bob?” Nastya was going to lose it. Her quiet, inner rage coupled with her tired state made for a comedic moment to kick start our time in D.C.

Conversation over Lebanese dinner

A few of the students and I went to dinner after Bob’s keynote address. It was late and we were the last ones permitted to order that night. We had fun. There was humor, there were moments of lucidity despite our blood-shot, tired eyes, and there were moments of depth where I was honored to share into their lives little pieces of wisdom I’ve obtained through mine. Once again, when the pressure is off and the environment in which I am afforded communication is free, amazing things happen. While they might have felt some obligation to talk with me because I’m the adult leader, I did feel like this was one of the more genuine and potentially critical conversations of the entire trip. We discussed human psychology and rudimentary philosophy and human relations. We tapped into logical fallacies and a bit into effective communication techniques. These are the conversations that inspire me to continue. That is, in the rat race of teaching where assessments and work load and conjured conversations and boxed-in classrooms confine what is possible, every so often we can escape these restraints, either literally or figuratively and explore ideas unashamedly.

Emotions at Arlington cemetery

I’m sure most of my family and friends were quietly rooting for a surreal experience for me in Washington D.C. My propensity is to be critical of my country and I think most people find that I do this too often. I feel that nothing should rise above critique, nothing ought to be given a pass and be immune to criticism; as such, Iapply this mantra to myself, my country, my religion, etc. If said recipient of my critique is strong, accurate, and embedded in truth, and if I'm skilled enough to navigate truth and discover what is reasonable with a sound epistemology, then it ought to withstand any petty critiques on my end.

That said, I must say that my first trip to Arlington Cemetery was highly emotional. I have some loose family connections to war in or by America, but it’s mostly at arm’s length for me. We aren't a family that sends young persons to war. This experience brought it closer to those who do serve and protect. The respect and awe was overwhelming at times.

The students, ever observant as they are, chalked it up to a mood swing by yours truly when they saw my solemn and near-silent disposition throughout. They repeatedly asked me if I was doing okay.

It is difficult to convey the bevy of emotions. The multitudinous thoughts—of honor, respect, frustration, anger, determination, inspiration, etc. As with any ethnicity, being American is a complex lot.

Conversation with my EIC; I cherished it

One of the last dinners out, we were all situated in a long table across the upper floor of a Chinese restaurant in D.C. It was my lucky day to be seated across from my EIC. The conversation about religion and politics and family relations and peer relations and philosophy that ensued was something I will never forget.

Those reading this are probably imagining a “conversation” in which I dominate and talk most of the time. Well, I’m learning how to listen. It’s going to be a life-long struggle for me, but there are pockets of growth. This was one such time. This might have been the first time I’ve ever listened to my EIC like this. The profundity and the eloquence at which she could describe the various things she ponders and posits was eye-opening. I was entranced by the conversation and fully content to ask questions and listen. Occasionally, I jumped in and added my thoughts, but it was so refreshing to hear her side of the story of life.

Thank you, SY. I felt honored to be a part of that conversation.

Seeing our friends

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our time spent with family and friends. Laurie Barnes, Anna Barnes, Katie Barnes, Harsha Jha, Claire Walker, Adrian Matthews, Linda’s sister, Sophia’s friends Cleo and Sam, Tami and Scott (yearbook reps), my mentor (Patty Turley), and other close correspondents (Linda Barrington, Diana Mitsu Klos. Etc.). Laughs, stories, and so much more was shared. What  an honor to have those people in our lives for a few, short slivers of time once again.

Anecdotes from sessions

Occasionally, a student would share out something gleaned from a session. It was wonderful to see so much absorbed even if some sessions were sub-par. The gleam in their eyes was wonderful (especially after the media tours).

Do they do it on purpose?

I hesitated putting this in our blog for obvious reasons, but in the end, I just couldn’t resist. As our tour guide spoke of a sinister past of a politician, she briefly noted how one such individual was caught sniffing glue at school.

This experience was foreign to our kids as was the concept itself. I couldn’t hold back the laughter as they said things like, “Glue, like real glue?,” “Did they do it [sniff it] on purpose?,” “Where did they find this glue?,” “Why would they do that?”

The innocence was so adorable.  

A student’s first Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (I have video evidence)

One of our students had an “amazing” experience, trying Reese's for the first time. His “brain was tingly” and he was beside himself with giggles and joy as he consumed one after another. Indeed, peanut butter and chocolate are divine together.

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In March 2014, when I first began exploring the possibility of this trip, I recall sharing with our administration that this trip is the “single, greatest event I have ever experienced with students.”

Behind the support of our administration (while taking into account this trip’s interruption to the school year), I was privileged to join another faculty member and 13 Almaty International School students in delving into yet another phenomenal trip. The density of this trip was awesome.

I think it lived up to my hype and then some.

Thank you, parents, for your support. It can’t be easy allowing this kind of interruption in your child’s education and lives. Thank you for giving this gift to them. Thank you for trusting them; I hope they made you proud. It will be a gift that pays off in so many ways in the future. 

Indeed, for some of them, this might have been their "favorite trip of [their] high school years."

-Mr. Joshua Smalley