At Washington D.C. for the Close-Up Program

          My name is Bradford Johnson and I was one of the five students from Alaska to go with the Close-Up Program down to the U.S. capital. The Close-Up Program was invited to go to the National Indian Education Association down in Washington D.C. for a week.    We were one of the many representatives across the span of the United States.  Groups that attended ranged from Alaska to Florida. There were also many different tribes of the Indian Race. Cherokee, Cheyenne, and many other native americans attended this organized event.

          During that week, we were able to go and see the senators Lisa Murkowski and Don Young. We met Lisa and her assistant in a tiny Board Room on the 3rd floor of the Hart Senate Building. There were many asked questions about the education in the city and in the village. One of the problems was the heating fuel for the schools. Many of the schools have not enough teachers that are willing to stay in the village to teach to the little kids. Another topic was about hiring stable teachers from the money that they are being to paid for education.

          We also had a chance of visiting the different memorials such as: the Lincoln Memorial, the War Memorial, the Washington Monument, and Smithsonian Museum. One of the mistakes in the museum that I saw was the Eskimo information. The pictured building was suppose to have a fire place in the middle of the building. The fire place was used as an entrance and exit only during the winter, while the other door like the everyday door u use, was used in the summer. 

It is said that the Smithsonian Museum was designed by the different tribes and groups of the Native Race. From the Inupiaqs to the indians in Florida, the representatives have gathered to design a museum like no other in the country. It has an awkward design to it. One side of the building looks like its an upside down stairway while the other side of it has almost a straight upward wall.