PAEMST Day 2

 Due to the storm that made its way across DC, most of the city was shut down including most government offices. There were only a couple of inches of snow, no where close enough to shut down the cities I live or work in, but DC is not used to that much snow or having to remove it. We were told the night before that everything would be shut down, but the offices where we would be meeting guaranteed that they would be open to receive us. The problem would be getting to our meetings since public buses would not be running so our hired buses probably wouldn't be running either. We were told not to worry about it because if that were the case, then we would take the metro! It was quite the sight to see as 102 professionals gathered in the hotel lobby wearing their nicest business attire with their dress pants tucked into boots of all shapes and sizes and a bag of dress shoes in hand. We still wanted to look nice because we were told that we would be taking a group photo with someone important, but that was all that was said even though we all knew what that meant.

On the metro with my fellow Utah awardee.

After maneuvering the metro with such a large group, we then walked a few blocks in the snow and wind to the White House offices located in the Eisenhower Building.

We had to go through two security check points before we got to the meeting room with our agendas for the day waiting for us on the tables.

Check out the last item!

We had a bit of time to wait for everyone to get through security and then change into their regular shoes. We also had to wait for some of our speakers and presenters to get there as they had to battle the snow and the streets of DC. Most of us took advantage of the following photo opportunity with a picture hanging on the wall.

I sent this picture to my friends and students, they were all impressed, but some were skeptical of its validity even though I told them it wasn't the real thing.

We had several science people talk to us about education and led a Q and A session where we got to put our thoughts about math and science education out there for all to hear. We were fed a nice lunch of a wrap and given a few cute boxes of White House candy.

After our meetings were done, we walked over to the White House. We immediately were placed on risers to get ready for our group photo. Once we were all set, Obama's OSTP advisor talked to us about STEM education and the importance of it. He went to go get the president from the Oval Office and the main guy in charge of events at the White House talked to us a little about the White House and its history. We were in the East Room for the photo. President Obama walked in and quite a few people were atwitter. He spoke to us about the importance of math and science education and then took the picture with us. Afterwards, he wanted to shake each of our hands so we each got a chance to say hello and where we are from as we shook his hand and were then ushered into the next room which happened to be the Green Room. People keep asking me what it was like to shake the president of the United States's hand, and I'm no sure how to respond. As I see it, he is just a man, but he is a man in a high office of power. It was interesting in that I'm used to only seeing him on TV or in photographs, but in real life he is three dimensional and right there. He was a nice man for the three seconds I interacted with him and his hands were big and soft. He is pretty tall, but everyone is tall compared to me.

As we waited for everyone to shake his hand, we got to look around the Green Room, which most people only get to walk through between two ropes on the tour. There were so many of us that we then got to walk into the Blue and Red rooms. We even got to look out the windows and saw the Obama children playing in the snow on the lawn.

After the president left, we were given time to look around the East Room and the front hall area. We knew we would be taking a tour the next day and that cameras wouldn't be allowed, but we were given the opportunity to take a few photos in the hall so everyone scattered and started taking photos like crazy because we knew we wouldn't be able to ever again. We were asked not to post any pictures of the residence on social media though.

As we were leaving, a runner was going by and asked us who we were as he had never seen any normal people coming out where we were. He was very impressed when we told him we were a group of award winning teachers.