Reflection: Day One in DC

Southwest Airlines 

Today was my first day on a plane. I was kind of nervous in my mind. It didn’t appear on my face, but I was. I was sitting next to a couple and they gave me some tips on staying cool. Ms.Regina held my hand as the plane was taking off. She really helped me out by that. My first Southwest Airline experience was good. The flight attendants were funny.

When the plane landed we went to baggage claim and claimed our items and boarded a Metro bus to the Metro train station (kind of like BART). At the station we met the station manager Tyler and he was nice and helpful. Barry led us, as we walked from the station to our hotel, The Courtyard Marriott. We put our things away and went over to Shake Shack. We enjoyed some burgers and got ready for a new day, the beginning of my college journey.

-Davon Carroll

The Bureau of Printing and Engraving 

We woke up early in the morning and I had a bit of a slow start. we received a legitimate wake up call from the front desk. In the hotel lobby we met a hotel staff member named David King, who had some wonderful words to share. David shared,“when times get hard think about the people you’re doing this for.”

After listening to his inspiring words,we headed down to the break room for breakfast. We began our day at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. While walking in I saw the history of money. WOW! I learned that the person in charge of all the money is Ms. Rosie Rios, she is Secretary of the Treasury and a Bay Area native. That made me proud! 

– Langston Scott

One Million

Georgetown University

On our way to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving I noticed how nice people were in D.C. At first I thought people were going to be rude and walk past us because it’s such a busy city, but it turns out people are really nice. One kind lady named Susan offered to take a group picture of us. That really spoke to me in a positive way. It made me realize that a place can’t define the people in it. 

When we got to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving I felt really excited to see all of the money. I learned that one-hundred sheets are printed every 1/2 a second. We were discussing how the new face of the ten dollar bill was going to be a historic woman. If you want to suggest the new face of the $10 bill, you can post #new10 on any social media site.

Here are some facts about money: everyone thinks that they don’t print the two dollar bill anymore, but they do. They just print it less than any other bill. Also,The Bureau of Printing and Engraving doesn’t make coin money, the Mint does.

 After we finished at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving we made our way to the NFLPA (National Football League Players Association). We met Dexter Santos, George Hegamin, and Hannibal Navies, who all work for The NFLPA . We gave them our EOYDC introductions and George memorized them by heart.

George retired from the NFL in 2002 at only 28 years old. It was the NFLPA that helped him transition to life after football. He is starting a Masters program at Georgetown and working as a Senior Marketing Manager at the NFLPA. He said, “it is important to identify an entity that will support you while doing your job”. He also shared,“the higher you go up in business, the less people of color you will see”. I will use this as inspiration to do my best so that I may be successful.

 Hannibal shared his story of being in the NFL on the Dallas Cowboys Football team. He talked about the history of the franchise and the poor way the players were treated. I hadn’t known about the terrible condition football players were put through during the mid 1900s.

Hannibal told us his story of how he made it out of Oakland, through the creation of a small business. Once we had finished at the NFLPA, we walked through the city with Terrance Moore, a friend of Ms Regina’s, and he answered our questions about College. He was a first generation student at Harvard from a small Louisiana town. He said that if he could do it, then we could too.

Having fun at the NFLPA

 The highlight of the day was definitely getting to tour the campus of Georgetown University. Georgetown was an amazing University that focused a lot on science, which is what I wanted to major in. The Law School building was also particularly interesting because of the culture in that space. Everybody was in a suit and looked like actual lawyers. I had said that I wanted to be a Neuroscientist but after seeing the school I would like to work in law. I say this because I’m really good at solving problems. I love how Georgetown students have the opportunity to run their own official bank. Ayo, our tour guide told us all about Computer Science, Medicine and everything else we were curious about.

After Georgetown, we made our way to Ben’s Chili Bowl for dinner with a fellow EOYDC participant, David Thomas. We were all eating similar meals while having a conversation with David about college life and his experience in college at Howard University. He is now in a graduate program at Georgetown University. We could all relate to him being a Black individual trying to succeed in life. He told us not only his successes but also about his faults. He told us that you should always enjoy the experience because when you don’t, It can be a missed opportunity or “what if” experience. When he told us this it really made me feel like I can enjoy life and be somebody. We decided to skip the memorial and save them for another day and spend the night working on the blogs.

Students stand in front of Georgetown sign.

-Carlon Jackson and Bilal Shabazz Jr.