VERONA WALK RESIDENT TAKING CLASS TO WASHINGTON DC

Paul Garrah is a Verona Walk resident and a teacher at Golden Gate H.S. He is organizing a class trip to Washington D.C. Paul's JROTC class will be the first class ever to make such a trip. A description of this event is described below. Paul will send more information as to how to donate or otherwise help this project.

THE GOLDEN GATE HIGH SCHOOL JROTC “WE LOVE OUR COUNTY” CITIZENSHIP VISIT TO WASHINGTON D.C.

The objective of this trip is to enhance our student's appreciation of our country. The JROTC motto is “Motivating Young People to Become Better Citizens.” What better place to highlight citizenship and help our young people become better citizens, than our Nation’s Capital.

I plan to take our senior cadets (about 15) to Washington D.C. as a culmination of their Junior ROTC experience. These seniors would be our best cadets with hundreds of school and community support hours volunteered while in our program. We will take this trip over a 6 day period April 4th and April 9th 2009 (Spring Recess). We plan to visit The Capitol Building, White House, Pentagon, Smithsonian, Fort Myer, Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon, a variety of monuments in the area such as the Lincoln Memorial, University of Maryland ROTC, Andrews Air Force Base and anything else we can fit in during this time. My goal is to ensure our cadets soak in as much as possible.

I was stationed in Washington twice and know the area well. I have already started the trip process and am currently coordinating with military units in the area to help keep our costs down. We will be staying at the Army –Navy club which is one block from the White House. I have great people in the Washington area who are willing to help us out. In June 2008, I visited Washington for a coordination visit and lined a number of events and activities up for us. This is the first time any JROTC unit in our county will visit Washington D.C. for a trip such as this.

This trip will benefit my students because it will show them first-hand what we teach in the JROTC Program of Instruction (POI). The following is an example of our Citizenship POI:

- Introduces the values and principles that underlie good citizenship.

- Emphasis is placed on topics such as the importance of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights; responsibilities of U.S. citizens; basic national values; the US federal justice system; and service to the community.

- In conjunction with citizenship, cadets are introduced to a variety of significant events and historical figures that contributed to our citizenship and American history.

I simply can’t imagine anything better than physically showing and having our students experience all of the wonderful things our Capital has to offer. Furthermore, some of our students are enlisting into the military after high school or are attending college ROTC. This visit would certainly prepare them for responsible leadership roles while making them aware of their rights, responsibilities, and privileges as American citizens. In addition, our cadets will have an experience they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

We are going to use fundraising and donations to pay for our trip. We already have $5,000 raised for the visit and are continually trying to raise more. The total cost will be about $10,000. We have time to reach our goal but we do need help. Thank you!

Respectfully,

Paul Garrah, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret