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While some people were having a nice relaxing time during the recent Long Leave, Mr Hardee (FTH), Mr Block (SAAB), Mr Boggitt (DRB) and Mrs Burns (HKEB) took 30 Sixth Form pupils to Washington DC and New York on a week-long Politics and Economics tour to the United States.
After finally getting through the US security and immigration at Washington Dulles airport Cranleigh Sixth Formers were treated to seven long days of hard political and economic activity (and that didn’t just include the shopping in New York!).
Washington DC
The first three days were spent in Washington DC, where Cranleighans got to go around the Supreme Court, the Capitol Building (with a special tour around the House of Representatives), the Newseum (a history of US political journalism), and the Washington Monuments by night (a tour given by a Vietnam Veteran and a former school head teacher), as well as attending two economics lectures given by a senior official at the US Treasury and HKEB’s brother, who works at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
 In addition, for those that wanted to, there was an afternoon dedicated to working for the ‘Re-elect Jim Moran’ campaign for the congressional mid-term elections. Angus Peters, Sophie Shearer, Nicola Hardwick and Emily Coleridge got particularly excited about their role as sign-wavers at traffic lights!
New York
After we had exhausted the opportunities that the US capital had to offer, we made our way to the Big Apple for more economics and politics-related activity. On the way we stopped off in Philadelphia to visit Liberty Bell and the US Constitution Museum. Once in New York, the group were treated to dinner in the Hard Rock Café off Times Square, a night tour up the Empire State Building, a visit to the Statue of Liberty, an audio tour of the United Nations HQ, more economics lectures and a tour around Wall Street, as well as catching the New York Knicks opening home NBA basketball game of the 2010-2011 season in Madison Square Gardens.
We did also find enough time to squeeze in a little shopping, when Cranleighans managed to use their economic know-how to take advantage of the favourable exchange rate.
Although it was very tiring, all those who went on the trip had a fabulous time and learned an awful lot about both the economic and the political systems of the United States. Thanks must go to all those who helped make this trip possible.
FTH
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