COURTESY PHOTO
Kalani High School students, pictured here with U.S. Rep. Ed Case, are among those from several Hawaii schools participating in a week-long Close-Up government studies program in Washington, D.C.
Isle kids on Sixteen-year-old Christina Hunt, of Kapahulu, was worried when she learned after a night at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., that the war against Iraq had begun.
D.C. trip stay calm
War does not dampen the
enthusiasm of students in a
program studying governmentBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com
The Kalani High School junior and other Hawaii students returned to their Arlington, Va., hotel from watching "1776, the Musical," and Hunt was told about the attack on Iraq by a program instructor.
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"I was in a good mood. It was ruined that night when we heard that we were going to war," she said.
Her anxiety was lessened after she spoke to her father, Cecil, in Honolulu, who assured her that she would be safe. "As long as we have security, I'm OK," she said.
Hunt, along with 60 students and teachers from several schools in Hawaii, participated in a week-long Close-Up government studies program in Washington. Through the nationwide program, students from Molokai High and Intermediate School, Leilehua High School, Waimea High School, Kauai High School, Konawaena High School, Konawaena Middle School, Kalani High School and Keaau High School traveled to the nation's capital to get a closer look at how government works.
Though some students were concerned about the war, most were preoccupied with the excitement of visiting Washington for the first time. Students went sightseeing around the nation's capital.
Throughout a congressional office building, uniformed officials armed with machine guns stood as students visited Hawaii's congressional delegation.
Curt Ai, an 11th-grade U.S. history teacher at Kalani High School who visited U.S. Rep. Ed Case yesterday with a group of Kalani High students, said the mood at the building has not changed much since Wednesday.
"If they didn't have CNN on, you wouldn't know there's a war going on," Ai said.
Hunt added that she still has conflicting views of the president's decision to attack Iraq. "Saddam is a horrible, horrible man," she said, "but when has war ever been good for us?"
Most of the students are anxious to return home -- not because they fear for their safety, but to return to Hawaii's warm weather. Students have complained about the cold and rainy weather, Ai said.
Case, D-Hawaii, said the students asked him questions about the war and whether he was scared.
"There was no doubt that is was on their minds," said Case. The congressman shared his views about the war campaign and told the students that the Capitol police are doing their best to protect them.
"Security is very high right now," he said.
Seventeen-year-old Katrina Tech, a junior at Kapolei High School, was at the 4-H recreational center Wednesday night when she and about 400 other students watched President Bush address the nation on his decision to move forward with the attack on Iraq.
Tech, of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, said she has not let the war affect her experience. "I'm just living my life regularly. ... I'm not letting it scare me," said Tech.
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