Students in Kris Vass’ AP United States Government and Politics class visited the capital on Wednesday as part of their post-AP test activities and classwork. With this, many of the facts learned over the year via their textbooks presented themselves in the form of the actual US government.

First on the students’ list of sites was the Supreme Court. After a short wait in line, students were allowed into the hall in which the trials occur, which is banned from video and photo documentation, and received a short lecture on the operation of the branch.

“I thought it was really cool. The court was my favorite place because I want to see an actual court case there,” senior Miranda Wilson said.

The students next walked to the Capitol building, where they first watched a video introducing the government’s history and then set off on a tour, learning about and observing the old senate building, the inside of the Capitol dome, the corresponding fresco, frieze and several other unique historic areas of the building.

Senior Chris MacAdam was somewhat put off by the display of statues in the rooms, which, as they are chosen without review by the state legislatures, included such figures as Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.

“Virginia is racist. That’s not cool,” MacAdam said.

Despite oddities such as these, MacAdam enjoyed the trip.

“It was really fun and a great opportunity to learn more about our nations capital. The most interesting thing was probably that history tour in the Capitol building. I really liked that the tour guide was knowledgeable and had cool stuff to say, a lot of which I’d never heard before. He gave detailed stories about the assassination attempt on Andrew Jackson and the painting of the frieze and so on,” MacAdam said.

After their sightseeing at the Capitol, the class was given free reign of the National Mall. Many students visited the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, while others chose to explore the monuments.

“It was cool to have a bit of freedom at the end. I went to the Natural History Museum, which I’ve seen before but which is really cool and always has something you missed the last time,” MacAdam said.

The bus reloaded at the Lincoln Memorial and headed back home, its occupants now more acquainted with the inner workings of our governme