St. Paul's students get private White House tour
By Shelley Lauren Katz
Students and teachers from St. Paul's School were special guests at the White House last Friday. They were given a private tour of the White House from the ground floor corridor to the upstairs state rooms."The field trip was timely as we recently celebrated President's Day and had been reading books about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson," said Connie Loggans, a kindergarten teacher at the school.
The field trip was used to supplement the Haymarket school's curriculum.
According to teachers, the students in pre-K through second grade have been learning about the office of president of the United States. They have also been learning about current President Barack Obama and his home, the White House.
On the tour, the students visited the White House library, the Gold Room (Vermeil Room), the Hallway of the First Ladies, and the East Room. In the East Room, the children were dazzled by the 1,200-pound chandeliers.
Kristen Loggans, age 5, said "I loved the chandeliers because they were beautiful and sparkly."
The children were also told about how presidents and their families historically used the East Room, which is now used strictly for nationally televised press conferences. Six-year-old Kaitlyn Loggans said, "I think it's cool that some presidents let their kids roller skate and ride their horses in the East Room."
Teachers also prepared the children for what they would see in the state rooms: the red, green and blue rooms.
They learned that Blue Room was used by presidents to greet important guests and that the Red Room was used by First ladies to entertain their VIP visitors.
When the tour concluded, the children were asked what they liked best. Almost all favored the brightly colored red, green and blue rooms.
"I liked the Green Room and the Blue Room, and the Red. And I like the big room," said Katlyn Isabella Layman.
The rooms were also among the favorites of student Chelsea Mokaya.
"I liked these rooms because they have lots of color,” she said.
Joshua Tesar, said he was a bit confused about the Blue Room.
"I do not know why they called the Blue Room blue,” he said. “It is really yellow. When I am president, I am going to make it a blue room."
Like Joshua, a number of the children said they were thinking about what they would do if they were president. The day before the tour several classrooms were working on writing a book titled, “If I Were President, I Would __.”
Teachers reported that the children also liked seeing all the portraits of presidents they had heard about in class.
First-grade teacher Maureen Lenihan explained that her class had just finished learning about the Civil War
"We just finished learning about President Lincoln and what actions he took while living in the White House," said Lenihan.
"The White House visit was a great way to kick off our Social Studies unit on presidents, the White House, and the 50 states," added teacher Chris Powers.
Marta Bensen, mother of student Caralyne Bensen, said that after returning from the White House, her daughter could not stop raving about the trip.
"She was so tickled that she talked and talked all day about the trip ... and never took a nap."
Her mother reported that she told everyone she saw that she went to the White House and "rode on a fancy bus."
And the sheer size of the presidents' home was overwhelming to David Powers.
His teacher, Justine Wald, reported David's impressions.
"If I was president, I don't know what I would do with all the rooms in the White House,” he told her. “We have one guest room and we don't always have enough people to fill it."