Students and chaperons pose on the roof of the Newseum with a view of the Canadian Embassy in the background. (Photo: Jamal Artis, Patterson Press)

by Jamal Artis

The Patterson Press went to  the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on December 4. It was a fun learning experience at  the museum, where we learned a lot, including about the Berlin Wall. The West Berlin Wall was the free side, where they had put graffiti art on the wall in 1986. It was East Germany, starting on August 13, 1961, that completely cut off contact with people coming in and out of the rest of the city. They also added a guard tower to keep  the people in the city; if anybody tried to leave, they got shot at by the person that was in the tower. We learned a lot about the Cold War in Germany. It went on for around 30 years.

The exhibit that was the most fascinating was the 9/11 exhibit. They had a few parts of the Twin Tower from 9/11, and they found a guy’s camera that got destroyed in the fire. Some students cried  a little over what happened to the twin tower that day. We also were put on the teleprompter and a video feed makes it look  like we’re on the news channel.

We also learned about major bank robberies  in the 20th century and the first phone, typewriter, and  printing press. The trip to the Newseum was fun and a great learning experience. I hope we do it again someday.