Dear Staff:

The trip to D.C. went great. On Monday Gen and I met with Assistant Secretary of Education Terrell Halaska. Dr. Cohn, Chelsea Smith and Arun Ramanathan, Government Relations from SDUSD were also present. Robert Boland, Legislative Assistant from Brian Bilbray's office joined us as well. We met and ate in the Members Dining Room at the Capitol. This was a once in a lifetime experience. We were then treated to a behind the scene tour of the Capitol by Robert Boland. We even got to ride on the Capitol metro.

After the luncheon meeting, Arun and I had three additional meetings. The first one was with Senior Administrative and Legislative Assistant Sharon Schultze from Congressmen Filner's office. We then met with Legislative Assistant Olyvia Rodriguez from U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein's office. Our final meeting was with Congresswoman Susan Davis.
Mitz Lee and John de Beck joined us for all three of these meetings. It was fascinating to me to see how our government works, especially how our elected officials get input from their constituents.

After our meetings, Arun and I visited the Georgetown section and Adams Morgan section of D.C. We then visited the Washington Monument, National World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Korean War Veterans Memorial. Visiting these memorials was an awesome experience for me. I was filled with pride for our country, especially for those brave men and women who gave their lives so that we can enjoy freedom. I feel so fortunate to be an American.

On Tuesday, I was able to visit the same sites again, view the White House from a distance (tight security) and finally browse through the Smithsonian Institute for about an hour and a half before I had to leave for the airport.

I have lots more to tell, but in the interest of brevity, I'll conclude here. I look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

Sincerely,
Robert