By Joey McWilliams
Bryan County was represented in Washington D.C. this summer.
A pair of county officers from 4-H programs in Calera and Rock Creek made the trip to the nation’s capital as a part of the Citizenship Washington Focus.
Hannah Carter, who will be a senior at Calera in the fall, and Tyler Anne Munson, a sophomore at Rock Creek, participated the organization’s premier leadership and citizenship program.
Carter and Munson left on the 10-day trip on June 15 with stops on the way to D.C. at St. Louis, Gettysburg, Philadelphia and more.
Tyler Anne Munson (L) and Hannah Carter on the steps of the Capitol. – Photo provided.
Carter, the current president of the Bryan County Teen Council, delayed her trip a year to get to make it with Munson.
“I was going to go last year,” Carter said. “But Tyler Anne’s mom said, ‘Why don’t you wait a year and you can go when Tyler Anne can go.’ And that’s what I decided to do.”
The CWF program offers six opportunities to make the trip. More than 50 students from Oklahoma were on the tour that Carter and Munson attended. And overall there were more than 300 from five states, according to Carter.
Carter said she wasn’t really surprised by things she saw on the trip and that she had some idea of what to expect from students who had gone before.
“I really enjoyed the Arlington National Cemetery,” Carter said. “That was really cool to get to see. That and all the monuments.
“The Lincoln Monument, that was really cool to get to see up close and to get to walk up to it. It was big and so was the Capitol.”
The CWF program offers 4-Hers a chance to look behind the scenes at what goes on in Congress. The students learn about many things from citizenship to legislation.
“I learned how to write a bill and how a bill is passed,” Carter said. “I was like, “Wow, this is a lot of work to get a law passed!” They have to go through so many stages. It’s crazy!”
Carter said she would recommend the trip to other 4-Hers and that would go back if she could, knowing where to spend more time.
The year wraps up and new year for 4-H gets underway with the annual banquet to be held Saturday, Aug. 5.