Students on the U.S. government and politics trip meet with Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
If you noticed a few of your fellow classmates and teammates absent from classes and sports from Sunday, October 29, to Tuesday, October 31, then it was most likely due to the recent US Government and Politics (often referred to by its former name, API) class trip to Washington D.C. Thirty-nine students who are currently taking US Government and Politics, along with three chaperones, went on the trip that lasted two days.
U.S. Government and Politics is a one-term course that examines different branches of government, looking into both real and hypothetical situations. The class also has a Model Congress, which allows students to simulate the actual U.S. Congress. In addition, there is an US Government and Politics II class that can be taken after completing US Government and Politics I, or with permission from the HPRSS department.
Despite the short time that these students and chaperones were in Washington D.C., they had quite a full itinerary from the start of the day. “Essentially, we’d get up at around 8:00 because we had 8:30 breakfast. We had to be on the bus around 9:00 AM. Our days were jam-packed,” commented Itai Mupanduki ’19 on the busyness of the schedule.
On Monday, the group started by meeting with the members of the office of Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa Delauro, who wasn’t in because she was still on the campaign trail. The group was later given a tour of the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, and the Smithsonian Museum. In regards to the first day, Mr. Jonas Akins, one of the three chaperones and teacher of US Government and Politics, said, “Monday was a little bit more like a tourist day.” The tours were certainly entertaining for the students, as Mr. Akins recalled about the Capitol Building, “Watching the students see it for the first time both from the outside and the inside was a lot of fun.”
On Monday evening, students had the chance to meet with Choate alumni living in the D.C. area. This experience allowed students to meet a large number of different alumni. “We had a wide variety of people; we had some physicians, we had some lawyers, we had some people who had been in the Obama administration,” Mr. Akins said.
Tuesday was much less about touring and focused on meeting with people from Capitol Hill – specifically, two congressmen, two senators, and a Choate alumnus who is the Chief of Staff for a congressman from Wisconsin. The day began by meeting Congressman Seth Moulton at 10:00 AM, where they were able to talk with him and ask questions. The group later met Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at the Senate Building, where the group also had the opportunity to ask about some of her policies. In addition, the group met Senator Richard Blumenthal on the steps of the Capitol Building and spoke with Congressman John Larson from the first district of Connecticut, as well.
Regarding what stood out to the students, the expertise of the congressmen and senators left an impression. When asked about certain pieces of legislation, like the Jones Act, they had no trouble talking about it. “Every single person knew exactly what was going on from this 1920 legislation. That right there, that’s pretty awesome,” said Mupanduki.
One of the things that particularly pleased Mr. Akins was the competence his students showed concerning the matters and topics discussed during their meetings with different people. “It was nice to see my students ask good questions, and to see that they were well-prepared and understood the functions and processes of government in a way that allowed them to ask those good questions,” he said.
Mia Krishnamurthy ’19 said, “The field trip was a unique experience that most classes do not get. It is amazing to learn the material in the classroom and then actually see how it works in real life on Capitol Hill.”
Mr. Akins shared the same sentiment: “Seeing that they are real people, and that they are dealing with other real people, is particularly valuable in trying to understand how these institutions carry out the work of the government.”
The US Government and Politics trip has been going since at least the 1970s, as one Choate alum at the alumni event remembered going on the same trip in 1973. The school plans to continue sending students on the trip each year, as it has once again been a major success. “I would definitely recommend it for anyone who’s interested in government or that sort of thing. It’s a great trip,” said Cal Stewart ’18, another trip participant.
Mupanduki concluded, “This has been a quintessential experience of my Choate time. So far, it’s probably the best thing I’ve done since I’ve come here.”
