Our class had an eventful Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week. On Wednesday morning students finished examining the presidency of the George H.W. Bush years and researched some of our not-so-famous presidents. We then analyzed the 1992 presidential election by watching some of the commercials from each of the candidates and highlights from the actual debates. Students also created posters for each candidate. After lunch students went to the library to research their candidates for next week’s Presidential Face-Off tournament. Later, they shared with the class what they had learned about some of the not-so-famous presidents. We then viewed Saturday Night Live political satire over the 1992 election before watching a role-play of the debate among Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot as represented by Thatcher, Sam, and Abby. Finally, we loaded onto the bus at 6:00 p.m. for our trip to Washington, D.C.
We arrived in D.C. on Thursday morning and were given a tour of the U.S. Capitol by the office of Representative Brett Guthrie. We then visited Ford’s Theatre, had lunch, and walked by the White House before meeting with the other two classes at the African American History Museum. All three classes then walked by several of the monuments including the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the Korean Memorial before ending our tour at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument. We stopped to eat dinner before loading the bus and taking our 12-hour bus ride back to Bowling Green.
When we arrived back at WKU, we had time to shower before heading to breakfast and class to wrap up our second week of camp. Students shared what they enjoyed most about the D.C. trip before going to the library to research candidates for their tournament and Mouth Rushmore project. When students returned from the library, they watched commercials from Bill Clinton and Bob Dole during the 1996 election. We also viewed highlights from the actual debate between the two candidates in addition to political satire from Saturday Night Live. After lunch, students watched a very creative
role-play debate between Dole and Clinton, who were portrayed by Jay and Sam. Ross Perot tried to enter our debate but, according to the rules set forth by the commission that runs the debates, he was not allowed to enter due to his declining popularity in the polls. We then ended class by watching a movie, Night at the Museum, and playing our weekly Beyond Balderdash game during which we had lots of laughs!
On Sunday night in study hall, students went to the library to finish researching their candidates in the Presidential Face-Off Tournament and their Mount Rushmore project.
