Scenes from the 2008 Washington DC trip (June 24-June 27, 2008)

Area Students Get a Firsthand Look at Washington Political Scene

During their June 2008 visit to Washington, D.C., seven area high school students, from Middlebury, Seymour, Southbury, and Woodbury, met with Congressman Christopher Murphy (D-5th). Congressman Murphy spoke about his day-to-day activities, expressed enthusiasm for representing the residents of the 5th Congressional District, and responded to the students’ questions. In addition to meeting with Congressman Murphy, the students attended a press conference about the Consumer Oil Price Protection Act, attended Congressman Murphy’s House speech about oil drilling, met with other members of the Connecticut Congressional delegation (John Larson, Rosa DeLauro, and Christopher Dodd) and toured the Capitol. Other activities during the trip included: attending a Senate Committee hearing and a State Department briefing, sightseeing at national monuments, and a visit to the Newseum.

Participating students were Chris Knobloch (Woodbury), Seth Warner (Southbury), Chelsea Martens (Woodbury), Sean Simoneau (Seymour), Mike Roy (Seymour), Bess Martin (Woodbury), Meghan Beebe (Middlebury). Our thanks to chaperones Lesa Peters and Mike Sturges, and to the Woodbury, Middlebury, Southbury and Seymour Democratic Town Committees. We also want to thank members of Connecticut's Congressional delegation (Congressman Chris Murphy, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Congressman John Larson, and Senator Chris Dodd) for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with our group. Thanks, too, to Art DeCoursey and Tom McMahon of the Democratic National Committee and Michael Kelly of the National Park Service for all their help!