Day 8: The First Day in D.C. by Robert Burch

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July 7th, 2019

The First Day in D.C.
by Robert Burch

Today is Sunday and we are just over halfway through our Global Environmental Leadership and Sustainability program. Our day today was full of activities such as visiting the zoo, an informative monument tour, and detailed work on our issue papers to present to our representatives. No matter what we did, all of it was exciting and interesting.
The group outside of the National Zoo.
Our first activity on our first full day in D.C. was leaving immediately after breakfast to take the metro and then walk the rest of the way to the Smithsonian National Zoo. The group was given around two hours where we got to walk around the zoo, look at the animals there, and learn about them and their place in our world. The animals there were very diverse and fascinating to learn about and helped remind me of the importance of protecting biodiversity in the ecosystem. Sadly, however, a lot of the animals and plants we saw there were vulnerable or endangered species with rapidly receding populations. This zoo was a good experience to see these animals and learn our actions affect their territory. It showed us that while there is a lot of fascinating and beautiful species in this world, we have to do our part to call attention to their struggling populations and try our best to preserve them.

Today was a very exciting but full day. Whether it was time at the zoo, learning the rich history of D.C., or even writing issue papers for lobbying, I had a blast and learned and grew a ton.  I cannot wait for tomorrow!

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