Gilroy – When Rep. John Lewis met up with Mount Madonna School students in his Washington office, the Georgia Democrat told the group he’d just been released from jail. The arrest stemmed from a protest he joined at the Sudan Embassy, he explained.
Just that was enough to impress John Vissell. But then Lewis told the students what Vissell considered words of wisdom.
Vissell, a junior at the Watsonville private high school who traveled to Washington on a trip with 22 of his classmates, said the congressman told them, “‘The most important thing is to get in the way,’ and by getting in the way, he means non-violent protesting.”
The juniors and seniors recently returned from the trip to our nation’s capitol, an annual tradition of the school nestled in the wooded hills skirting Highway 152. Mount Madonna government teacher Ward Mailliard organized the first trip to Washington in 1989, as an extension of the school’s government studies class.
In 1991, the educator began offering a class, tagged “Values in America,” specifically to aide his students as they developed the questions to raise to leaders during the trip.
During this year’s 10-day trip, the students met with numerous dignitaries. When the teens returned to school at the beginning of June they staged a presentation, complete with slide show, student-produce video and short essays describing their experience.
For Naomi Magid, 17, listening to the opinions of individuals hailing from the other side of the political aisle served as the trip highlight. At Mount Madonna School, she explained, the political bent is definitely liberal so it was interesting to hear what the Republican leaders had to say.
While Magid said she tends to side with Democrats on most issues, she was struck by the arguments put forth by the GOP politicians.
In Magid’s short essay detailing the trip, she described the group’s final interview with Sen. Diane Feinstein, a woman whose views more likely reflect her politics.
“Through the stress of her job and the stress of the political world, she translated a sort of wisdom to us that we couldn’t get anywhere but D.C.,” she said. “She said to us that at the end of the day, we only have ourselves to live with, and we will be happiest with ourselves in that hour if we are satisfied with our efforts.”
