Washington Cover Story (a.k.a.-White House Fall) By Keana Harper

Back in November of 2003, when I was twelve years old, I went to Washington D.C. so I could attend this conference called JrNYLC (Junior National Young Leaders Conference.) It was a leadership conference that I was nominated to go to by my sixth grade English teacher. Basically, it was that I would go away for six days to Washington D.C., learn about how to be a good leader, learn about certain parts of history, and visit some cool sites. I stayed in a hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, and also heard a few keynote speakers talk. I also met a bunch of kids my age, and had to put together a play within my own group.

I reached D.C. about five o’clock in the afternoon and I was excited! I got to the hotel and I met with my faculty advisor, Valerie. She was really cool. I also met with the people in my group. We were all in a group by last name. Then I went to my room and met my roommates, Alexa and Rosemarie, who were also in my group. I don’t remember everything I did that day, but it’s not really important to my story, anyway.

The next morning I remember having a leadership focus meeting and then going on our bus so we could go visit some sites. First, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which was really fun. We saw a lot of facts and artifacts from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries that were really interesting. We had lunch there, and then went off to see the White House.

We got off the bus, and we were walking down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. It was somewhat hard to get there, since there was construction being done on the street and sidewalk. We did not get to take a tour of the place, but we got to take lots of pictures, which was really entertaining. I took out my camera and was snapping many pictures; I think I actually got a few really good ones that did not have my finger in front of the lens. I also was taking pictures of the police officers that were standing guard nearby. They didn’t look happy.

Finally after about fifteen minutes of taking pictures, we had to leave. I was talking to Rosemarie about something that I can’t remember. I was not paying attention to where I was walking, since there were a lot of people in front of us, so I was just following their voices. Anyway, there was a bump in the sidewalk that I did not notice, and so I didn’t step correctly, and lost my balance, then fell. Oh, but that’s not even the worst part. A car stopped in the middle of the road, and President George W. Bush, opened the door and stepped out. And then guess what he did? HE LAUGHED. He straight up laughed at me. Then a bunch of people started taking pictures, and someone said “That will be on the cover of the Washington Post tomorrow morning.” Okay, I’m just playing around. The President never came and no one took pictures. But the people around me did try and help me up. Some laughed. It was so embarrassing. And I got a scar on my knee that is still there today.

Anyway, I got up as fast as I could, and got back on the bus. Rosie and I started joking around about how I was going to be on the cover of the Washington Post the next day. I laughed, and said “No Way.” But the funny thing is that I still checked the paper the next morning.