Once in a lifetime opportunity: “Traveling brings your …...2013/03/14 · Once in a lifetime...
Transcript of Once in a lifetime opportunity: “Traveling brings your …...2013/03/14 · Once in a lifetime...
Once in a lifetime opportunity: 57th Presidential Inauguration
“Traveling brings your true self out. When you’re away from loved ones, the things
you do, and in a new environment, you realize
things you never knew about yourself.”
– Leader Hector
Thank you for your generous January contributions
�The Joshua S. Ford Family �Destinations By Design, Jim Nelson
Shanna Dean
Vanessa Edmonds East Career & Technical Academy
Judy Hoovler Mark Rouse
Christine Simo James Stillerman
Desiree Taylor Clair Thomas Joe Voshchin Justin White
“I was never really sure about living so far from home. Washington DC
has such different customs from Las Vegas. I loved experiencing new
things and having a story to tell in the future.”
– Leader Natalie
“I am going to make many different choices in my lifetime. Just because of this trip, I already know what to
expect on the east coast. I now know I don’t like the cold and that I
prefer the heat.” – Leader Troy
“The cross country trip changed my view of the world. I always thought everywhere would be the same. I was wrong, everything is really
different.” – Leader Dariel
“There is one thing I believe that has not changed over the trip. To me, it
does not matter where you come from. Everybody is different and because we are from Las Vegas doesn’t mean that we are any
different. Everyone is different and if we were the same nothing would be able to be made. Everyone has different skills and should try to do things that they think are right.”
– Leader Nestor
The whole group at the Goldfarb ES parking lot: packed & ready to go @9:30pm
Goldfarb ES custodian Mr. Paul
helping with luggage
Kingman, AZ Amtrak Station
@12:30am
Ready for the drive to AZ
“I am so glad to be on this trip to Washington DC because it would change the future for me such as having good grades, knowing where to go to college and to also see what are the differences from Vegas.”
– Leader Brandon
Miss Mosca’s dad Mr. Mosca,
chaperone
Starting reflections at the Kingman Station thanks to Mr. Adam’s journal donations
Kingman platform: ready to embark on train 1 for almost 2 days @2:30am
Leader Natalie’s mom Mrs. Pen,
chaperone
Leader Alyssa & Leader Frankeisha, LVHS
Leader Linda & Leader Natalie, East Career &
Technical Academy (ECTA)
Leader Troy, LVHS & Leader Nestor, ECTA
Leader Austin, Green Valley HS & Leader Hector, ECTA
Leader Dariel & Leader Brandon, Las Vegas HS
(LVHS)
Leader Angel, Eldorado HS & Leader Adrianna, LVHS
Leader Angelica & Leader Natasha, ECTA Leader Jenny, LVHS
Amtrak Conductor Darren! Entertainment included magic tricks & asking each student
their family’s country of origin. He commented we were one of the most diverse groups he’s
ever seen! Leader Angel’s mom Mrs. Fort,
chaperone
Amtrak dining car experience: LSA Diner Pauline took care of us!
More writing reflections with our southwest
view
How we slept for 5 nights
“From being aboard two trains it became clear that on the east coast, you did whatever you could to be on top. While the people living on the west coast are laid back. Over my experience on the two trains, I saw the relations between
the east and west coasts are very different.” – Leader Natasha
Kansas City, MO @7am
Founder/Executive Director Miss Mosca & Leader Nana in the lounge car aka the students’ favorite part of the train ride
School on the train: reflections on NY Times article on lack of low-
income students graduating from college
Reading about college persistence
Fort Madison, Iowa @11am – we got on train 2 in Chicago, IL @3pm
With Asst. Conductor Rich who took care of us for 2 days!
Arrived in Washington, DC after 18 hrs on train 2 @12:40pm. After boarding all our luggage at the
station, we found NV State Board of Education District 3
Representative Allison Serafin & former CCSD teacher Miss Yi!
Being tourists in a new city! Finally out of the station @1:30pm after we found Mr. Hakim Walker, GWU Doctoral student who was our extraordinarily patient and fun tour guide/host during the 27.5 hours in Washington, DC
“My experience on this trip also helped me make different choices in my life and life in general. Choices such as trying new things, being careful when crossing roads, never walk alone, and many other choices. I’ve already known about these choices but when in different states, you have to take it more
seriously.” – Leader Angelica
Miss Mosca’s fave part of the trip: Senator Reid’s intern who gave us
our tickets just happens to be from east Las Vegas and attended the
same middle school as most of our students. Lance Arberry: an
inspiration as students murmured “I could be him someday” as we left
the Senate Hart Office Building
Our invitation, tickets & map
East Las Vegas takes over NV Senator Harry Reid’s Office
“Going to these places has made me realize that I need to go to college and do good in life if I want to live and travel to places like this. It makes
me want to get good grades because if I get good grades I can go to college and get a degree. If I get a degree, I get a job and make tons of
money so I can live in a place like this. It is amazing because we met someone at Harry Reid’s office and he actually went to Harney Middle School the same one I went to and now he is someone who works for
Harry Reid. That goes to show that someone from Vegas can go to a place like this if they try hard enough and get good grades. I learned that you
have to work hard to be able to achieve something great. I haven’t had a goal since I started high school, but each and every day I’m starting to
realize that I’m working towards the goal of college because I want to be able to experience traveling and seeing all these places. I also want to
make my parents proud because they have never been to the east coast, well at least my mom hasn’t,
and I want them be able to see me achieve something great and see the amazing places I’ve gotten the chance to see and I want them to see it too.”
-Leader Linda
Crowded Metro station: over 800,000 people are estimated to have attended the Presidential Inauguration
Unforgettable experience: first
subway ride
“In the cross county experience I’ve learned a ton of things about myself. It not only changed my point of view of the world but made me realize what I want in life. I want to get out of Vegas and experience things Vegas
can’t offer me. I realized I want to live somewhere where the weather changes all the time, and live somewhere where I’m surrounded by huge sky scraping buildings. I want to live in a city and meet new people!
I want to make it big.” – Leader Alyssa
“All I wanted to see was the Lincoln Memorial. It was my favorite part of the trip.” – Leader Adrianna
Group shot in front of a freshman dorm
Group dinner at T.G.I. Friday’s on the GWU campus
Parent chaperones get some relief
“Something really interesting about
this trip was learning things
about myself that I had never taken
much consideration of. For example, I had never thought
about exactly where I wanted to end up living when
I grew up and graduated.”
– Leader Angel
Waiting together from about 6-9am
Our fellow yellow ticket holders
@4:30am searching for breakfast – unlike
Las Vegas, almost nothing was open!
At about 9am we made it through our gate
Made it through security!
Security check
We kept ourselves busy in the cold (cold for us!)
until about 11am when festivities started
No matter your political beliefs, this will remain a life-changing moment for Leaders in Training. 4 years ago, most
of these students were in 5th grade watching the Presidential Inauguration in the “Leaders in Training”-themed
classroom with then CCSD/TFA teacher Miss Mosca. No one could have guessed
they could be in Washington, DC watching the next Inauguration
together as part of a college access non-profit. In 4 years all leaders will
pay back the trip by ensuring they are watching the 58th Presidential
Inauguration as college students.
All leaders slept during the 18 hr train ride back to Chicago with snow, snow, snow everywhere on the ride back!
Walked through the hundreds of thousands of people back to Union Station arriving around 1pm. After
collecting all our luggage back & waiting to depart @4pm, we ran into Nevada State Education
Association’s ESEA support staff representative Jacqueline Whitfield & her daughter Sade— a junior at Southeast Career & Technical Academy! Thank you Ms. Whitfield for being the one who informed Leaders
in Training of Senator Reid’s Inauguration ticket public lottery!
“I love Chicago. The Art Museum there… God I felt like I
was in the higher clouds of heaven instead of heaven
itself. I wanted to faint and cry, but I didn’t want people in LIT
to look at me weird (I think they already know!).”
– Leader Jenny
Layover @9am until departure @3pm.
Learned the definition of COLD: 1 degree.
Half went to the Navy Pier in students’ first
cab ride while the other half warmly fell in love with the Art
Institute of Chicago – ran out of time for more college visits!
“I plan to change my life around. I plan to do this on three principles. Hard work is one because if you don’t work hard how are you supposed to get stuff done? Endurance because
if you can’t keep up with your homework how are you supposed to keep your grades up? Last, but not least,
personality because without that hard-working personality how do you hope to get anywhere in life?”
– Leader Austin
dd II ll t dd thhii thh
@12:30am on 1/24 arrived safely back in Kingman, AZ. Amazing 1.5 day ride back including Tom in the café, beautiful KC station, reflections on the train, NM having a namesake city/hand-crafted gifts in Albuquerque & an
Amish culture lesson from a fellow passenger. All students returned by 2:30am. WE DID IT: WE MADE HISTORY TOGETHER! TIME TO TAKE ACTION
THROUGH BETTER GRADES TO ENSURE SUCH OPPORTUNITIES ALWAYS EXIST.
Thank you for the generous donation of your time Tha
CHAPERONES
• Robyn Fort • Eric Mosca • Erica Mosca • Val Pen
SOCIAL MEDIA
• Amanda Williams
ank you for the gen
HOSTS
• Hakim Walker • Mr. & Mrs.
Richard McConkie
Val Pen McCon
• Nassim Agange • David Blodgett
• Amanda Fulkerson • Ian Helm
• Benjamin Koch • Paloma Martinez • Yousuf Marvi • Denise McDade • Carol Mosca • Saswato Roy • Kirsten Searer
• Rasheed Thompson • Victor Wakefield
• Jacqueline Whitfield
GOODS
DONATIONS
• Adam Johnson • Amanda Williams
SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP & PERMISSION
Principals:
• John Anzalone, Eldorado HS • Debbie Brockett, LVHS • Glenda Goetting, ECTA
•Jeff Horn, GVHS
Leaders in Training is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves as an after school college access program for Las Vegas students. With some of the highest high school dropout, unemployment, and foreclosure rates in this nation, Leaders in Training aids underrepresented students to have the: (1) academic attainment (2) financial literacy (3) higher education information and (4) leadership skills to apply, attend, and graduate from a 4-year university. Follow us on Facebook & Twitter Contact: [email protected]
“I’ve always cared what
people used to think about me because I never believed in
myself, I would always doubt myself, I mean I would try but I gave up too quick, so I’m glad
I am in Leaders In Training. I love the way we get helped out and get tutors and we
learn we can make our career become real. I just want to
show the people that made me feel bad about myself and
treated me wrong that I can do anything they can do.”
– Leader Frankeisha