On Thursday, January 31, five lucky middle school students and their guardians arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to embark on the field trip of a lifetime. The winners of the 2nd Annual “Freedom Through My Eyes” Art/Essay Contest were invited to spend 4 days and 3 nights in Washington, DC, courtesy of the Lakers Youth Foundation, Virgin America Airlines and the Hilton Garden Inn. The goal of the contest, which was open to Los Angeles County middle school students, was to encourage students to explore the meaning of liberty and our nation’s symbols of freedom. To enter, students were asked to be creative in using their writing and drawing skills to express what freedom means to them.

The five winners of this year’s contest were David Amirian (Toll Middle School), Zoey Cigar-Hodge (Markham Middle School), Amy He (Marguerita School), George Simonyan (Toll Middle School) and Narine Yesayan (Le Conte Middle School).

At the airport, the students were surprised by former Lakers James Worthy, Special Assistant Coach Craig Hodges, Lakers center Andrew Bynum and the Laker Girls. At the gate, Virgin America played music and provided refreshments for the entire group. After Andrew, James and Craig congratulated the students and wished them well on their trip, Virgin America literally rolled out the red carpet for the entire group to board the plane. Once inside the airliner, the students discovered their very own touch screen TV at their seat where they could play games, listen to music and even chat with each other throughout the flight! Once the group landed in Washington, they were encouraged to get a good night’s rest because they had a busy couple of days ahead!

The next morning, the group set off to take a walking tour of the White House. This self guided tour took them through the Library, Vermeil Room, Blue Room, Red Room, East Room and State Dining Hall. As the group exited the White House, they passed the Grand Staircase, which is used by the President, the First Lady and visiting dignitaries on special occasions. The group took a short lunch break before departing on the DC Metro for the US Capitol. None of the winners or their guardians had ever ridden on the subway before, so everyone was excited and ready to take in this new experience!

At the US Capitol, the group enjoyed an exclusive staff-led tour set up by the office of Congresswoman Laura Richardson, Representative of the 37th District of California. Starting at the Rayburn House Office Building, the guide took the group through underground tunnels to get to the different sections of the Capitol. He led the group through the Crypt, which is marked with a white star in the middle of the floor to represent the Center of the Government. The tour continued through the Small Senate Rotunda, the Old Supreme Court Chamber and the most spectacular room, the Rotunda, which is used for various ceremonial functions. The most interesting part of the tour was learning about the Old Hall of the House. The students witnessed first-hand how the architecture affected the way sound traveled in the Hall,

That evening, the group sat down together for dinner and shared their winning essays and works of art. Then they boarded a bus for a twilight tour of DC. While on the bus, the tour guide pointed out all the historic sites and gave a brief explanation for each. The tour included stops at the U.S. Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Nurses Memorial, World War II Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, White House, Jefferson Memorial and FDR Memorial. The tour also included views from the bus of Pennsylvania Avenue, the Smithsonian Museums, FBI Building, Washington Monument, U.S. Holocaust Museum, the Kennedy Center, and so much more. By the end of the tour, the group had learned the layout of the entire city!

The next morning the group met bright and early to visit the Washington Monument. After another ride on the DC Metro and a short walk on the National Mall, the group arrived at the Monument. Once the group reached the top of this famous structure, they could see all the sites they had visited the previous evening. The group then boarded the Metro to visit the Arlington National Cemetery. Here the group visited John F. Kennedy’s grave with the eternal flame, watched the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and visited Arlington House, which boasted a spectacular view of the Washington, DC skyline! The rest of the afternoon, the students and their chaperones had the opportunity to explore the city on their own.

On Sunday, the winners and their chaperones departed for the Verizon Center to watch the Lakers take on the Washington Wizards. The group sat courtside to watch players shoot around and KCAL’s John Ireland interviewed the students on LTV’s pre-game show! The real highlight of the game for the students was when they had the opportunity to meet players as they entered the court. Lakers players Ronny Turiaf, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmanovic, Jordan Farmar, Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant all stopped to offer congratulations, pose for pictures and sign autographs for the students. To top it off, the Lakers won the game, beating the Wizards, 103-91!

Later that night, the students returned home to Los Angeles, a bit tired from their travels, but grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience and learn about our country’s capital. The winners will be invited to a Lakers home game later this season where they will be recognized at halftime. In addition, their essays and artwork will be displayed on the main concourse during the game.