Rocky Boy students visit Washington, D.C.

Thirteen Rocky Boy High School students got a chance to visit the nation’s capital for a week and take a more hands-on approach to learning about the government and history.

Kendall Griggs, a Rocky Boy High School art teacher and the Close Up program adviser, said the kids had a great trip to Washington, D.C.

The 13 students in the Rocky Boy Close Up program were broken up into groups upon their arrival in D.C. to share rooms with kids from other states, Griggs said.

“They got exposure to other ways of life … that experience of seeing how other people live,” Griggs said.

The students spent some of their time in workshop courses that were run by graduate students working in the field of politics or higher education. The students also had mock congresses, where they took a current issue and debated it — eventually voting on bills.

“They did everything that you would have to do in that process,” Griggs said.

The hot topics this year were the Keystone pipeline, legalization of marijuana and funding of education.

“It really helps them for their senior year when they take government (class),” Griggs said.

The students also took side trips to notable places such as Arlington National Cemetery and the National Mall to see the Capitol, the World War II Memorial, Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. They also went to a Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns game.

“They have an in depth close-up look at people who changed the course of history,” Griggs said. “It’s pretty hands-on; they do quite a bit of learning.”

While the students were taking part in their programs, the faculty who accompanied them from their schools attended a teacher program in which they listened to speakers and gained insights on different lessons they could teach in their classrooms, Griggs said.

Griggs and the students left for the capital March 22 and returned Friday.

The trip cost $2,000 per student and half the money was raised through fundraisers put on by the students in the Close Up program. The high school covered half of the costs for the trip.

The Rocky Boy students visited D.C. with 30 other schools in the program.

“About 1,500 schools go a year … ,” Griggs said. “It goes on the whole time senate is in session”

The students also met Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont. and Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont. for a Q-and-A.

Griggs said the experience was important for the students because it gave them a chance to see more than they would close to home.

“A lot of kids from Rocky Boy don’t leave Rocky Boy much,” Griggs said. “(The trip) shows there’s something to strive for after you graduate high school.”

According to the press release from Griggs, the Close Up program is aimed at forming students into citizens.

“Close Up informs, inspires, and empowers young people to exercise the rights and accept the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy,” the press release says.

Griggs said he is hoping to take another group of students on the trip next year.

“I’m going to work with the other teacher to do it again, most definitely,” Griggs said. “There’s interest from other students who realized the students got to go on a big trip.”