Officer Stanton at The National Law Enforcement Memorial

First Amendment

And Day Six Begins ...

Maine's 20th Regiment celebrated at Battle of Gettysburg 150th anniversary

Click here to read about the battle at Little Round Top

Senator Angus King's commemoration of the 20th Regiment on the Senate Floor

Last Day - Connor

Well, the Freedom Tour is over. There were some fun parts and some not-so-fun parts. We saw some very famous places. We walked for miles. We saw some historic monuments. We spent at least a total of 24 hours on the bus. We laughed. We cried. We had a dance party in the back of our bus. We went to a pool so chlorinated that being in the area stunk your eyes. We went to an awesome pool. We endured massive heat and humidity. Was it worth it?  Yes. Why? Because it was an amazing trip full of new experiences and feelings.

8:05 - Worchester, MA

Next stop is Kittery.

6:20 PM - Vernon, CT

Traffic is light as is the rain. 

Stopping at Charleton Service Plaza for dinner in 30 minutes. 

We will be making one last stop at the Kittery rest area.

I estimate we will be at the Bath YMCA between 10:30 - 11:00.

Keep checking the blog for arrival updates.

Marybeth

Last Day - Grace

So, last day. This week has flown by so fast it’s not even funny. We got woken up at like, 5 something, and it was bad. After packing and stuff like that, we ate then got on the bus.  We made signs for the Today Show, but we didn’t make it. I was sad. We still went to the top of the Rock, a.k.a the Rockefeller. It was so crazy because I’m terrified of heights. My ears kept popping. After the rock, we just went off with our groups and went shopping. My group went to Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, the M&M store, and Forever 21. I didn’t get much because I was almost out of money, but it was still fun. After shopping we went to the Hard Rock Café, and ate. This was the first restaurant I had gone to that served cookies as a dessert. After full stomachs, we boarded the bus to get home. This trip was so much fun. I feel bad for anyone that didn’t go, because it was great. The adults were nice, the places were cool, and sometimes emotional. The bus I was on had the loud people, but that’s part of the fun. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone, but there’s a LOT of walking. Thanks Bath YMCA for taking me on this trip; it was a lot of fun.

Last Day - Sophia

Our peaceful sleep was interrupted by an early morning wake up call. Not wanting to get out of bed my group and I packed our bags for the last time and headed down to breakfast. With all the traffic in the morning we are unable to make it to the Today Show at the time we pleased. But we still went to the 67^th, 68^th, and 69^th floors of the Rockefeller building. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking. The groups didn’t spend too much time on the Top of the Rock because after that each group went off and when shopping on 5^th avenue/Times Square. In the two hours given to us my group was able to go into five different stores, F-A-O Schwartz, Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, M&Ms World, and Forever 21. For our last meal in NYC we ate at the Hard Rock Café. When bellies were full and plates were emptied each person loaded the busses anticipating the long ride back home.

Almost There!

George Washington Bridge is Closed

Horrific Traffic ... everyone redirected to Lincoln Tunnel. Hope to be at Today show by 8:30!

Reflections from the Holocaust using Google Voice

Click here to listen to one student's reflections

Day 6 - Connor

Human bodies being bulldozed into a pit.  There were many atrocious pictures at the Holocaust museum, but that is the one that is sticking with me the most.  Human bodies treated like garbage – not animals or plants, but human remains.  Do you know how many of your genes you share with other humans?  99.9%  All humans share 99.9% of their genes.  All of those people killed in the Holocaust were 99.9% the same as you.  Just think about that.

A Magic Moment at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

This is Marybeth and I want to share a moment in time that was surreal.  As the kids were watching the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Phil and I met beyond the ceremony to discuss the options we had to use the empty amphitheater nearby.  After a few minutes of brainstorming, I sat down and wrote the following note on my iPhone:

Headstones in this vast cemetery represent a single person who served In the armed forces. Each person, just like those who marched across the fields during Pickett's charge, was defending, protecting, honoring, and sometimes dying for the rights guaranteed in our constitution. I call these rights freedom.
How do these headstones, these men and woman, represent the freedoms you have now - today?  Equality to vote, non-segregation, to protest the government, to speak your ideals publicly, to practice your religion.
These freedoms continue to be defined and defended each and every day. The freedom to marry?  The freedom to protect or terminate a pregnancy?
As we sit here amongst the the fallen, in reverence, solitude and solidarity, how have your thoughts, feelings or attitudes shifted since this morning when you awoke?

After the ceremony the kids sat on the steps of the amphitheater in the shade while I used my notes to focus them.  They were silent, engaged, and focused.  Shortly after I began my "speech," Taps began to play from nearby.  We listened in silence - complete and utter silence.  Magical, indeed.

At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

There Are No Words by Kitty Donohoe

Click here to listen to There Are No Words

Day 5 - Connor

America. That one word fills some hearts with pride, others with nothing. Many of us simply do not feel American, not connected to the country as a whole. Why is that? Because we have no great seat of power to rally around? No King or Queen whose names we shout as we charge into battle? Yet we do. We do have a great power. Greater than any single man, woman, or child. Our rallying point is us. We the people. America isn’t a single ruler, it isn’t a single religion or doctrine. America is you. It is me. It is all 314 million of us. And all of us have power -  the greatest power ever given to any human being on this planet. The power to govern and rule ourselves - free of any absolute authority or dictator. But with this greatest of powers comes the greatest of responsibilities. The responsibility, the duty, to use his power not for personal gain, but to protect and preserve our rights and freedoms. For there are those who would wish to take our freedoms, to see us languish under an iron heel, unable to do, say, or think what we want, unable to express ourselves. But for those who are not free are like a single cog. They spin and spin, as fast and as violently as they can, but they will never accomplish anything for they are one. America is different. We are many, many cogs and gears, all turning ourselves and each other. Some are larger and have greater parts to play. But take away just one, no matter how small and all that we have worked for, all we have strived for, will halt and crumble. However, if we stay together, stay strong as one nation, one people, one America, then we will accomplish wonders that no other country can attain.

Day 5 - Miranda

Imagine walking on the footsteps of ones who lost their lives,  the ones who
dreamed about  marrying someone and having kids and so forth?  Seeing the Pentagon Memorial tonight was just an experience that I never thought I would
be able to have. Seeing all of the monuments there with the peoples names on the
stone and to see their parents that were there with them.  It literally breaks my
heart to even write about this.  I know people took every little word our chaperones
said while they were reading the stories of others. Even though people are all in
different friends' groups, I realized were all feeling the same thing at that moment. I
sat with someone new tonight on the way home. Someone who I never thought that I would be friends with at all and I felt like it was just something that I will never
forget, ever. She’s a very emotional person when it comes to things like this. And
I was there with her and every tear that dropped from her big blue eyes. Just thinking about how the plane slammed right in the Pentagon kills everything inside me.  On our way home everybody stepped on the bus with tears in their eyes, once we got on the bus we listened to a song called There are No Words by Kitty Donahue.  We all sat in our seats and I could hear everyone sniffling.  If you were there you would be sniffling with us feeling the same thing.  When you are done reading this, please take a few minutes to think of what happened on
September 11, 2001.  If not, look up some things about it.  This is our country and while this may have happened, we got through it and have been able to move on with our lives.  God bless the United States of America.

Day 5 - Victoria

    There has been so much to see!  It’s too much to describe in one sitting!
    Today was  day for emotions none of us experienced on this trip.  I’ve never seen so many people cry all in one place - with the exception of a funeral.  I held it together for most of the visit to the memorial.  It was the first place on this trip that brought something deeper than just the visit.  It wasn’t until I saw my friends crying that my first tears came out.  I trust that many other people had the same experience.  And then the song played on the bus.  I have never cried because of a song before.  Until today.  I never knew anyone in 9/11, or have any real connection to it, so I feel like I shouldn’t be crying.  I have no reason to cry unlike so many other people there.  I hate going to memorials without leaving a token.  So I decided to scour through my backpack for something - anything.  I found one penny.  One penny old enough to match a date on the memorial - 1978.  I left it on the bench of a woman named Jamie.  I believe she was lost while in the Pentagon. I left the penny at the end of the bench hoping the people who see it will get the same feeling I do.  The feeling that someone out there cares and misses these people. 

Day 5 - Julia

Tonight, after a long but enjoyable day of museums and the Arlington Cemetery, we went to the Pentagon Memorial.  When we first stepped into the memorial, I was shocked at how many benches there were.  There was also a wide range of ages of people who died that day - from 3 years old to 71 years old.  Underneath the benches that were dedicated to the people who had lost their lives, was flowing water.  It seemed too peaceful to hear the flow of water where there once had been a tragic ending to many people’s lives.  I can’t believe that people would kill innocent people.  There is no excuse for that and I can’t understand it.  When we left the memorial and got on the bus Marybeth played a song written for the tradegy.  It’s called There Are No Words.  Even the kids who hadn’t been crying before were crying so hard.  We were thinking of the lives lost at the Pentagon, Twin Towers, and the field in Pennsylvania.  We were also thinking of our families and the loved ones that we’ve lost while trying to comprehend what it would be like if we lost our own family. There really are no words to describe the feeling of loss and sorrow during 9/11.