We want to thank all the donors who helped make the 2026 History and Literature D.C. Trip possible. At Pine Hills, learning doesn’t just take place within the four walls of a classroom. Students from the junior class were immersed in the roots of American history and culture during a weeklong adventure in Washington DC. This trip was the capstone experience to a full education at Pine Hills. Below you will see a list of what we saw, and you will read a few excerpts from the journals students kept during our trip.
Air and Space Museum
National Gallery of Art
National Archives
Ford’s Theater Tour
Lincoln Memorial (where students recited The Gettysburg Address)
Vietnam War Memorial
Korean War Memorial
Tour of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
US Capitol Tour with gallery passes. Watched two votes in congress and met with a congressional investigator
Library of Congress
Washington Monument
WWII Memorial
WW1 Memorial
African American History Museum
Pentagon Tour and Pentagon Memorial
American History Museum
Natural History Museum
Jefferson Memorial
Roosevelt Memorial
MLK Jr. Memorial
Mount Vernon Tour
Arlington Cemetery
Watching the House of Representatives was something I didn’t know I would get the chance to see in person. This experience was just something that existed in the news. I can’t wait to tell my grandpa about this. In real time we got to watch decisions being made, something I’ve only ever seen on TV until today. It was doubly interesting to look down from the gallery and see our district representative from California, Kevin Kiley cast his vote.
- David
We actually got to meet a lady who was a survivor of the holocaust. Her name was Louise. We asked her a question about how much she remembers from the holocaust. She said it was cold and it was too dangerous for her dad to get a cream for her and her brother's hands. The cold caused their hands to crack. Instead of buying cream, her dad had them pee into a bucket. They would dip their hands in there to make them not hurt long enough for them to sleep. She said at the time they didn’t realize it was really gross
- Chase…the first stop was the African American History Museum. This was by far my favorite museum because I felt as if I was able to relate in a personal way that not many other people can. Off the rip, the most interesting quote that stood out to me there read—“Why must we remember? Is this but a counsel of vengeance and hate? God forbid! We must remember because if once the world forgives evil, evil is reborn.” This is such a powerful quote because a lot of the blacks nowadays who have ancestors who experienced slavery and even modern survivors of slavery probably don’t want to remember all of the harsh things that they went through. But the thing is, if they forget all about it, then who is going to spread the awareness? It's exactly as the quote states—“Once the world forgives evil, evil is reborn.” So I really think that instead of forgiving and forgetting, we should forgive, and remember all of the hardships that they had to go through during those hard times…The last stop was the MLK memorial. I got to see my hero close up in person and boy was he huge! I'm so very thankful for the sacrifice he made because I wouldn't be here with my friends today or even on this trip if he hadn't stood up for people like me. Not even just me but every race, it's truly incredible. Presently, I am writing this journal entry, waiting for another beautiful journey tomorrow. I can't wait.
- Javon
Next, we visited the library of congress, which was probably my favorite thing we saw today. As soon as we walked in, I was amazed by the detail and murals all around. The pillars reached up to the high ceiling.The walls and ceiling were covered with pictures, words, and quotes. One of my favorite quotes was “knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers”. I liked it because it reminded me that in order to actually be wise, you have to apply the knowledge, and know how to use it.
- Zach
My day began with a simple, quiet moment of comfort, enjoying a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch paired with cranberry juice. It was a modest start to what would quickly become one of the most emotionally significant days of my life. After finishing breakfast, we headed toward the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I was there to deliver a presentation, but I soon found myself completely absorbed by the atmosphere of the building itself. The museum is masterfully designed to be evocative; every corridor and exhibit is intended to make you feel the weight, the gravity, and the claustrophobia of the concentration camps. It isn't just a collection of facts, but a physical experience of history.
As I walked through the exhibits, I was struck by the overwhelming magnitude of what happened. I saw thousands of pairs of eyeglasses in a tangled pile, thousands of toothbrushes, and mountain after mountain of shoes in every possible size, from sturdy boots to tiny children's slippers. Seeing these personal belongings was incredibly sad because they represented the sheer scale of people who were stripped of their identities and forced into camps. I was particularly moved by a quote displayed near the shoes: "We are the shoes. We are the last witness. We were the shoes from the grandchildren and grandfathers from Prague, Paris, and Amsterdam; and because we are only made of fabric and leather, and not of blood and flesh, each one of us avoided the hellfire." It was a haunting reminder that these objects outlasted the people who owned them. Another quote that stopped me in my tracks stated that there were not six million Jews murdered, but rather one murder that occurred six million times. This shifted the perspective from a statistic back to the individual human lives lost.
- Vanessa
Today we went to the US Capitol. We were able to get to sit in on the House of Representatives making some random decision that I didn’t quite understand. I had no idea that there were that many people though, I mean, I knew there were a lot, but not that many. I also thought that the decision making took way longer than it actually took them. They were so fast that I barely had time to see what the question up for debate was. I suppose it may have been quicker because it wasn’t as important of a decision that they were making, but I’m not sure.
We also went and saw the Library of Congress. It was so beautiful there, I really liked the murals everywhere as well as the amazing architecture. I went through the exhibit they had of Thomas Jefferson’s Library. A lot of the books were in Latin, at least, the ones I noticed were. I saw several books labeled Plato as well as some labeled Aristotle. I could see how Thomas Jefferson liked to use the knowledge from the past while he helped write the declaration of independence. Another thing I noticed was that almost all the books were either brown, red, or orange, but there were several books that were blue and green. I think this is because books with dyed covers must have cost a lot of money back in the day, because dyes were expensive to make. (see my picture of some of the dyed books)
-Grace
