LESSON REVIEW # 1A...Description of Field Trip to Washington D.C.        

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      "A Free Tutoring Service: Preparing for the Future"

  A Federal and State of California Nonprofit Corporation

"I'm glad you students stopped off at the Black Wax Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. You got a chance to see how I survived those slavery times." ...Sarah (left, fictitious name)...slave..1830)

A narrative review of our educational field trip to Washington D.C., Baltimore, and New York  on July 28-August 4, 2000 is dedicated to: Joseph Fatt (Los Angeles, California), Tony and Coleen Winbush (Brooklyn, New York), Anne Sorrentino (Mesa, Arizona) , Jackie and Emmanuel (Baltimore, Maryland), Andrea (Washington .D.C.), Lillian Croom (Burke,Virginia)  and Mary Gaddis (Torrance, California), our friends and financial supporters. Joe, because of your support (contribution of $250), Jarrell (13) was able to make this trip. Jarrell is aspiring to become a Doctor and you have undoubtedly helped him on his way.  Thank you all for your support!  

                              Cleophas Mike McAlpin......Tutor 

                              Marci Williams.............Tutor 

                           Doctor Cheryl Browne-Ojei...Tutor 

There was a fire on the 12th floor of the Empire State Building. The flow of traffic down 5th Avenue was already jam-packed at this 6:00 PM hour, but now it slowed even further. Fire engines howled and rushed to the scene as spectators stood and stared up at the 100+ story structure. We were all very glad that we had not ventured to the top to view the magnificence of the City of New York. We stood across the street and ate our "White Castle" hamburgers. We stared like all of rest of the New Yorkers who took a moment out of their busy and rushed lives to look for signs of smoke.

It was Tuesday, the 2nd day of August, 2000. Three Tutors and seven students were very happy that they had not chosen to pay the $9 admission's fee and wait in the one hour line to venture to the top of the Empire State Building. Our budget did not allow such a tour, anyway. We had been in New York since Monday and were already feeling the pinch of economics that comes with living in such an expensive city. We had only one more day to go, and were determined to keep a little portion of the funds that we had in our pockets.

The excitement of the fire left just as quickly as it had begun. I asked a fireman what was happening and he told me that everything was "under control". We left the scene like all of the rest of on-lookers and continued our shopping for souvenirs along 5th Avenue near 42nd Street. 

We had arrived in downtown Manhattan after a trip from the Statute of Liberty. A ferry had brought us to our Subway station and we had boarded the subway like experts and made our way to the downtown area. We were experts at riding the subway by now. Medical Doctor Cheryl was the navigator, of course, and kept us all "on course". Doctor Cheryl had also given a lecture to the students while back in Brooklyn and the lecture focused on budgeting one's money. All seven of the tutoring students paid strict attention and put away subway fares as Doctor Cheryl had instructed them. She had outlined the cost of the trip in detail while sitting in the living room of our hosts, Tony and Coleen Winbush, of Brooklyn. She also outlined a strict code-of-conduct that would be followed while in the City of New York. The students paid strict attention to the one hour lecture from Doctor Cheryl and the other comments from Cleophas McAlpin, the Chief Tutor.

Our field trip to Washington D.C. and New York was truly an educational one. It is difficult to describe all that was seen and all that was taught in detail on these few pages. We will supplement our review with comments from the students at a later date. The students were required to carry notebooks and keep accurate notes on what was seen and done and those will be placed on this site. You will get a glimpse at some of the activities by clicking on.... . 

We will attempt to bring a review to you in chronological order. It is our intention to provide a blueprint for other groups that may make a similar journey. We are in the business of education and would be very happy to discuss our trip with interested parties. We made a few mistakes and will gladly share them with you. So, please read on and enjoy this wonderful educational experience with us. We want to say "Thank God", first of all, for allowing us to have a safe trip, and we want to "thank you" for all of your support. It is truly a blessing to travel from one end of these United States to the other and meet so many caring individuals. You will meet some of those individuals as these pages unfold.

We (10 in all) left Los Angeles International Airport at 9:00AM, July 28, 2000. We arrived at Southwest Airlines an hour before our flight and had ample time to check our luggage and relax in the waiting area. Telephone number...Southwest Airlines..(800) 435-9792. We took advantage of the $99 one-way fare that was offered on the Internet and made our reservations as soon as they became available. You'll have to move fast or else those flights will disappear right before your eyes. Our plane was in the air and some of the students experienced air travel for the very first time. My excitement matched theirs as we took off and banked out over the blue-green Pacific Ocean and headed eastward.

We landed in Phoenix, Arizona for a brief time to let off and pick up several passengers. Among those passengers that boarded was Anne, a University of Phoenix Professor. Anne sat next to me and we engaged in a conversation about education and the youth. Anne made a donation of $40 to our Tutoring Service. Anne is such a wonderful and caring person and was the first of many that we met while journeying across these United States of America. Thank you very much, Anne, for your kind consideration. We want to congratulate you on your engagement to be married in October of 2000. We will write occasionally to let you know of the progress of the Tutoring Service and the students. Joseph Fatt made a contribution of $250 to assist Jarrell (underprivileged and brilliant) and for that we truly thank him. I have never met Joe, but I know that he is truly a wonderful person. His kindness brings joy to my soul. 

We landed at Baltimore (BWI) at 7:00PM. The weather was very bad along the East Coast and we had to circle in a holding pattern for one hour before getting the O.K. to land. We immediately went to Alamo Car Rental at the airport and secured our 15-passenger van. We loaded our luggage and took off for the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Virginia (800) 321-2211. The hotel is one of the finest and we would recommend it to anyone who has a desire to have a great time. The 3-night hotel stay was donated by Cleophas and Eddie Gayle McAlpin. The cost was approximately $900 for 2 rooms.

All members of the party were given a booklet (designed my yours truly) that contained the telephone number of the hotel, the car rental agency, our host in Brooklyn, our flight numbers and departure times, our cell telephone numbers and other pertinent information about the trip. It was very easy to keep up with schedules because of this "emergency type" of informational sheet. Each of the students had the information in his or her possession at all times. The booklet also served as a workbook for the trip. There were questions that had to be answered by each student. Some questions had to be asked of the Pilots of the aircraft. Some of the questions appear below:

Questions:

Section1.

Ans. (example) The type of airplane is a 737 Jetliner and the time of flight is approximately 6 hours.

Ans. (example) The aircraft will hold between 122-137 passengers.

Pictures: Section 1.

Section 2: Washington D.C.

1. Our arrival time at B.W.I. Airport is 6:10 PM. What time is it in Los Angeles? What does P.S.T., C.S.T. and E.S.T. mean with regards to "time"?

Ans._________________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the latitude and longitude of the Baltimore, Washington D.C. area?

Ans._________________________________________________________________________________

3. Los Angeles is ___________________________________miles away from Washington D.C.

4. What time did the aircraft land? What was its maximum height and how long was the descent into B.W.I?

Ans.________________________________________________________________________________

5. What is the name of our hotel in Virginia? What are the room rates? Telephone Number________________

Ans._____________________________________________________________

6. Describe some of the activities while at the hotel.

Ans.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lesson Review...continued

 Our Marriott Hotel on Eisenhower Avenue was very nice. Hotel employees such as Armstrong, Vero and Robert made sure that we were comfortable and well taken care of. We thank each of them for their professionalism and kindness to our group. We look forward to visiting them again.

Lillian and Eli Croom of Woodridge, Virginia didn't have to do it. They did it with style. They prepared a great party for us. There was a beautiful back yard, lots of barbecue ribs, chicken and salads, lots of good music and lots of melodious sounding crickets in the background. They were excellent hosts, going far beyond anything that I anticipated when they invited us to stop by their beautiful home in Woodbridge (30 miles from our Hotel). Thank you, Lillian, Eli, Patrick and Lisa.

We took the Subway to Arlington Cemetery where we purchased tour tickets for the Fredrick Douglas House. We then went on the tour. It took approximately 2 hours. The students learned all about Fredrick Douglas and did a report in their booklets about his life. Pictures can be seen under . 

We decided to do a tour of Washington D.C. on our own. We took the public transportation system from our hotel in Virginia to Arlington Cemetery, where we did a tour and got rain-soaked like so many others during cloudbursts over the Cemetery. We were determined to see the "Changing of the Guard", though, and a little rain was no deterrent. One of our students dropped a camera during the ceremony and it landed at the feet of a guard. His eyes kept their focus and his steps matched them. I thought better of trying to retrieve the camera and hope that someone will return it to our student one day. We got a ride back to the main building on a tram and got to see the graves of famous Americans on our ride back.

We decided to take the van the next day. We were now familiar with the traffic and the landmarks in Washington D.C. We toured the Washington Monument, White House grounds (outside of a fence), outside of the Capitol Building, (Thank you, Mary Gaddis, for attempting to get us a tour of the White House) Lincoln Memorial and took a driving tour around the City. We did a tour of a Smithsonian Building (Flight) and each student described at least one of the exhibits in the Space Flight section. I gave a lecture on the Missile exhibits and Space Shuttle exhibits found there. Lauren (12) did a video tape and the tape is readily available. Most of our tour was videotaped by Lauren. Also, we took many, many photos and they are also available.

We left the Marriott Hotel on Monday, July 31st a 8:00AM. We packed all of our things in our van and made our way to New York. The trip took approximately 5 hours.

We discussed each State as we passed through it. Doctor Cheryl had a book that was laden with facts about cities and States along the way and we discussed those as we passed through. We passed through Virginia, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey before getting to New York. We stopped in Philadelphia to do a short tour and ended up near to the Republican Presidential Convention site. I did an interview with of one of the supporters of George Bush and the students listened as he told of a Senator who was running against Hillary Clinton. I told him that we hoped to do an interview with Mrs. Clinton upon our arrival in New York. The students listened intently to the interview that was held at a Marketplace near the convention site. There were many protestors and we were glad to be on our way out of Philadelphia and on our way to New York after a few hours....to be continued..

(This lesson review will be the first in a new series. Previous lesson Review #1A has been archived under "Lesson Review 1ArchiveA". For information, go to "Lesson Review Archives" on the Home page or send e-mail cleophas9@aol.com  or seemacal2@cs.com 

Continued: Harlem Hospital is a bustling place. I contacted Tony Winbush on the 6th floor and informed him of our arrival. Tony is the father of one of our students, Jamise, back in California. Tony works as a Computer Consultant for Harlem Hospital. Tony had been kind enough to offer his Brooklyn residence as a place for us to stay while in New York. 

Tony got in the van with us and directed us to his duplex in Brooklyn. He pointed out landmarks as we traveled. Doctor Cheryl was doing the driving by now (Thank God!).

Tony and Coleen Winbush made us all very comfortable in their beautiful duplex. The males had living quarters downstairs, while the females had them upstairs. The duplex was decorated very elaborately. We made sure that it would stay that way by having a lecture with the students on "cleanliness and order".

We went out to dinner to celebrate Tony's birthday. The restaurant (Junior's in Brooklyn) was very nice. All of us had a wonderful time. Of course, we parked the van and took the subway. The van never moved from its parking spot in front of Tony's  home until we were on our way back to California! Driving in New York is a nightmare!

We navigated the subway system to Harlem Hospital where we met all of Tony's co-workers. We listened to a lecture by Tony that dealt with a new "Computer Patient Tracking System". Our Tutor, Doctor Cheryl, is from Kaiser Hospital in Harbor City and she, along with other Harlem Hospital Doctors, listened to Tony's lecture and instructions on the Computer System. Each of our students sat at a computer terminal and followed along with Tony. The lecture was very informative for me...from the "patient standpoint", that is. 

Doctor Cheryl is a wonderful cook. She proved her expertise by cooking delicious meals. We bought groceries while in Harlem and each student took a bag on the subway as we made our way back to Brooklyn. We looked like true New Yorkers, instead of tourists!

The students were given a chance to say what they wanted to do next. They chose to "chill out" this afternoon and I didn't blame them a bit. They had been seen an "educational blitz" thus far and needed a rest. They played music, ate and danced. All of us danced and had a wonderful afternoon. The rain outside didn't bother us a bit!

It was a rainy or overcast East Coast for much of our stay. We managed trips to places of interest, anyway. We visited Fifth Avenue and took a sightseeing tour. We visited the Statue of Liberty and spent a lot of time there. We did shopping in Harlem. We engaged ourselves in lively conservation about New York and learned a great deal about the history and demographics. We talked to just about everyone that we met, from two young girls on the Subway about how they liked New York, to Tour Guides who showed us around. It was a complete learning experience for all of us. 

We lived by a strict budget. We ate very little fast food. We bought very few souvenirs. We had a wonderful time, just the same.

We drove back to Baltimore and had dinner at the home of Emanuel, Doctor Cheryl's brother. Jackie, Emanuel's wife, fixed a wonderful meal for us. 

We had left New York earlier enough to attend the "Black Wax Museum" in Baltimore, and we did just that. Jackie led the way and we followed her car through the streets of Baltimore.

The Black Wax Museum in Baltimore is a one-of-a-kind. It outlines the History of Blacks, from their captivity into slavery, to their release, to their triumphs in America. There were many, many wax figures, all expertly done. Digital cameras were not allowed, and so I did not get any photos. Alas. 

We departed Baltimore. We remembered our arrival nearly a week previous when we landed. We remembered our stop at Dave's Famous Barbecue, where we met some members of the United States Coast Guard. We remembered the laughter and antics of Andea (birthday celebration with her friends), a United States Coast Guard member who made us laugh, and feel very happy to be in Baltimore. Of course, it was raining cats and dogs outside, and we got thoroughly soaked. That was part of our learning experience. Always prepare for rain when back on the East Coast. Californians are spoiled in that regard, seeing little or no rain for months at a time. We got rain soaked and some of the students seemed frustrated by that! We departed the East Coast and we thanked God and everyone who had anything to do with this wonderful, educational journey. 

The weather would not release us as we sat and waited for it to clear. We sat in the plane for approximately one and one half hours before taking off for Oakland. Oakland was fine with me, even though we were scheduled to land in Kansas City. We were told to prepare for a night in Oakland because the plane would be diverted there due to bad weather.

Oakland was great! We were given free accommodations in the Holiday Inn at the Airport, free breakfast, and a chance to call friends and loved ones in Los Angeles to tell them what had happened.

We returned home, safe...happy...and sound. We had a wonderful time!

The students made booklets about the trip and they are available. And now Green Warrior (top), it's back to the grindstone!

                           by...Cleophas McAlpin...Tutor

"O.K. students, it's time to get back to the business of Mathematics and Science. We will begin our tutoring lessons again on August 9, 2000...4:00PM sharp. Don't be late! Follow lessons on our Website" 

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