Arrowhead JSA chapter, commonly referred to as JS-Slay by student members, returned from their annual field trip to Washington DC. JSA arrived at 11:00am for the trip on February 15th and came back at 5:00pm on February 19th.

JSA normally attends Winter Congress in Washington DC however due to a change in scheduling, it is hosted at a different location. Club leaders decided to still travel to Washington, but instead of attending a winter congress, they would go to museums and visit monuments. 

According to the Arrowhead JSA website, the club serves as a community for students who take interest in government, politics, and debate. The Arrowhead website said, “JSA is a bipartisan, nonprofit, 100% a student run organization encompassing over 300,000 students to date. In JSA students meet to share their opinions on current events through debate and discussion, and occasionally even fun games or travel to Washington DC get thrown into the mix!”

The faculty advisors for JSA are social studies teachers Tim Tower and Tamara Lindmair. 

The day they arrived in Washington, February 15th, JSA members attended a tour at the African American History Museum, met at National Archives and made their way to Ben’s Chili Bowl. For the second day JSA took a tour of the White House, traveled to the National Air & Space Museum, Washington Monument and the American History Museum. 

Both JSA and Rho Kappa participants were invited to attend the trip. However, junior JSA member James Norcross said, “Mostly JSA members attended the trip.”

Rho Kappa is a social studies honor society, in which students who are interested in social studies and have a cumulative 3.5 in social studies classes are allowed to participate. 

JSA finished off their trip by attending the US Holocaust Museum, Moonlight Monument Tour, and then making their way back to the airport.

Kate Sprinkman, JSA Vice President and Arrowhead senior says she finds it hard to pick her favorite aspect of the trip. 

Sprinkman says, “Honestly we did so much I can’t even pick a highlight. We went to the African American History Museum, the American History Museum, the Spy Museum, Air and Space Museum, and the Holocaust Museum. We also saw Joe Biden’s dog while we were at the white house. My absolute favorite thing we did was probably the moonlight monument tour where we got to walk around to the different monuments at night.” 

Norcross says they attended the trip for “political insight” and to be in “the eye of the political storm that is Washington DC.”