Washington- A Reflection

Wow.

What a trip.

What a crazy, awesome, amazing trip.

As most of you blog fans (rock on) know, on March 12-13 a very special group of makers went to Washington DC.  To prepare for the trip, we were all assigned embarrassing and occasionally star wars-related nicknames.

Me (Katherine): KGB, Russian Spy (because of my initials)
Oliver: OZ, Olly, Olive, Olivia, Ollypop, Beyonce (don't ask me where that came from), and Albert (long story)
Sharanya: Shoe, Sharan-yoda
Phanisree: Phuhsomething-something
Sundhar: Shun-dhar, Sun-Darth

But enough about the weird nicknames.
Anyway, looking back from my trip to Washington, I learned a lot of things.  I learned that while forcing us to collaborate, which is the PRISM term for "don't bite anyone's head off because they accidentally poked your rover", might have been annoying in the short term, being able to present how we worked together to do things was really rewarding in the end.

I must admit, it was really nerve-wracking to have to speak in front of tons of principals and politicians.  We actually got to facilitate the whole thing, while Dr. MC stood in the back, adding some little stuff and running the presentation.  Speaking of Dr.  MC, she really taught us that we have a voice and it matters, and there's no way we could have done it without her, but still, WOW was it tough speaking to all those people.  As Oliver put it, "Sundhar, I need to ask you a favor.  If I faint on stage, which I inevitably will, will you please run over and drag my dead body out of the spotlight?"

It was a real honor to meet all the people there, such as Governor Wise, who is the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, and the former governor of West Virginia.  He was an awesome guy, funny, nice, et cetera.  In fact, when I made someone else's day by accidentally leaving my entire $100 in a taxicab, Digital Learning Day desperately tried to track it down, and when they couldn't, Governor Wise personally presented me a replacement for the money, single-handedly restoring my faith (mostly) in politicians.