By TRISTAN SWIHART
Elkhart County 4-H Member

ELKHART COUNTY — I had the privilege of attending the 4-H Citizenship Washington D.C. Focus trip this year. The CWF program runs for seven weeks throughout the summer. Indiana joined other states, and I attended from June 27 to July 4.

We traveled by Purdue charter bus on the first Saturday, and drove through the night to get there. We traveled home all day July 4. We stayed at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center, just outside of Washington D.C.

We learned about how bills are created and passed into laws. We made some of our own bills, and people presented the pros and cons. The bills were discussed and voted on just like actual Congress. Each 4-H’er was part of a committee of some sort. I was on the talent show committee, and emceed the talent show at the end of the week.

Normally, 4-H’ers on the trip get to meet with their members of Congress, but since it was the week of July 4, Congress was on break so they could be with their families. Instead we were able to meet and talk with Joe Donnelly’s agricultural advisor.

As a group, we visited several sites including the Capitol building, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon and Smithsonian Zoological Park. We also had free time in Washington D.C, where my friends and I formed a small group, and visited the Library of Congress and the White House.

It was a lot of fun to be able to meet other 4-H’ers from across the country, and I would recommend this trip to other 4-H’ers.

For more information about 4-H contact the Purdue Extension Elkhart County Office at (574) 533-0554.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Swihart is a member of the 4-H Llovable Llama Club, Elkhart County Junior Leaders and Elkhart County Shooting Sports Club.)