C of O Students Make Annual Trip to Washington, D.C.

College students from School of the Ozarks make a journey to the Nation’s Capital.

The complete launch beneath from C of O:

School of the Ozarks continued the groundbreaking CitizenTrip® that started in 2019 as a part of their Patriotic Schooling Program. As soon as once more, School of the Ozarks despatched 140 college students on a two-day, one-night intensive journey to Washington D.C., for free of charge to the scholars, Sept. 8-9.   

Col. John Clark, Vietnam Veteran and P.O.W., hung out with the scholars on the Vietnam Memorial. He has traveled with the School by means of the Patriotic Schooling Journey Program and has shared his experiences with college students over time. He challenged them in the course of the journey to study extra and was an inspiration to all due to his potential to embrace life, adversity, and obstacles with hope.

“I cherished the non-public facet of seeing patriotism that had been lived and produced success reasonably than remorse or bitterness,” stated senior Esther Beggs. “Col. John Clark confronted a lot hardship for his nation, however he was pleased with this. This journey, I used to be amazed at how many individuals, like Col. John Clark, have been keen to offer years of their life in protection of our nation. I used to be convicted of my very own selfishness and impressed to be extra sacrificial for the sake of my nation.”

Senior Anna Scott, C of O public relations main, mirrored on the impactful story he offered.

“Getting to sit down by the Vietnam Memorial and listen to Col. John Clark reminisce on his time as a prisoner of battle within the Hanoi Hilton was inspiring and in addition extremely sobering,” Scott stated. “For over six years, Col. Clark was tortured and saved from his household, and I do know when he signed as much as battle that he by no means anticipated this traumatic expertise to happen. Col. Clark was ultimately capable of return to the US, however 58,000 folks whose names are etched within the Vietnam Memorial Wall gave the last word sacrifice and by no means acquired to the touch our soil once more. I hope to hold out their legacy and always remember the valuable freedom they gave their lives for, and that Col. Clark so valiantly fought for.”

This yr’s CitizenTrip® included stops at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, Museum of the Bible, the White Home, the US Capitol, the Nationwide Archives Museum, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian Museum of American Historical past, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. College students additionally visited the Nationwide Mall, which incorporates the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool, Korean Struggle Veterans Memorial, Washington Monument, and World Struggle II Memorial. 

“Different colleges might put up a mission assertion in a plaque in a again workplace or have a motto on their web site, however I’ve seen School of the Ozarks reside its core values,” Beggs stated. “Considered one of these values is patriotism. The School might do a lot much less and nonetheless be thought of patriotic. However sending every pupil on a visit to personally expertise American historical past, tradition, inspiration, is rather like C of O: keen to go the additional mile to show to its college students that patriotism is not only one thing to speak about however to expertise and take part in and combine into on a regular basis life.”

Senior Karsten Armstrong, C of O double main in historical past and video manufacturing, discovered the Museum of the Bible to be one of the vital impactful experiences of the journey.

“As a historical past main, it’s at all times a problem making an attempt to get folks to grasp and be interested by summary ideas (like historical past), and top-of-the-line methods is to tie it to one thing concrete,” Karsten stated. “This journey did very nicely with that in plenty of methods, tying American historical past to the totally different websites in DC. But it surely was particularly noticeable within the Museum of the Bible. As I explored it and talked about it with others, it was very obvious that it actually helped us connect with the biblical story in a brand new method.”

Extra about CitizenTrip® and The William S. Knight Heart for Patriotic Schooling

The patriotic objective of School of the Ozarks is to encourage an understanding of American heritage, civic duty, love of nation, and willingness to defend it. The CitizenTrip® is an integral a part of fulfilling the patriotic objective. The CitizenTrip® is a capstone alternative for college students who’ve demonstrated an understanding of the patriotic objective by means of the patriotic training programs.

The journey was hosted by The William S. Knight Heart for Patriotic Schooling at School of the Ozarks.