After our visit to the Library of Congress, we crossed the street to see our nation’s capitol. We entered through the visitor’s center where we were given headsets. Our tour began with a 13- minute film “Out of Many, One,” which took us on a journey through our country’s struggle to establish the world’s first truly representative democracy and introduced us to the building that houses our Congress.
We started our Capitol tour by receiving headsets through which our guide spoke, and we could easily hear her descriptions and directions. We were taken to the Rotunda of the Capitol which is a large, domed circular room located in the center of the U.S. Capitol Building’s second floor. The lower walls of the Rotunda hold historic paintings, and a frieze depicting significant events in American history rings the upper walls. On The Rotunda canopy, a painting entitled The Apotheosis of Washington, depicts George Washington, our first president. We turned around and around trying to see all of the paintings.
Probably, the most exciting activity was to actually sit in the gallery of the House of Representatives and see our government in action. Representatives were given two or three minutes to address a current bill. We saw the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, standing in front of the Speaker’s chair directing the opposing discussions. It was obvious to all of us that there actually was a difference of opinion on either side of the aisle, one side Democrats, the other, Republicans. We didn’t want to leave as we wanted to hear the rest of the discussion.
It was an honor to see our government in operation and stand in the halls where famous men and women have served our nation.
At Lubbock Junior Academy children are taught to serve God and their fellow humankind.
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