Once in a lifetime opportunity: 57th Presidential Inauguration

“Traveling brings your true self out. When you’re away from loved ones, the things

you do, and in a new environment, you realize

things you never knew about yourself.”

– Leader Hector

Thank you for your generous January contributions

�The Joshua S. Ford Family �Destinations By Design, Jim Nelson

Shanna Dean

Vanessa Edmonds East Career & Technical Academy

Judy Hoovler Mark Rouse

Christine Simo James Stillerman

Desiree Taylor Clair Thomas Joe Voshchin Justin White

“I was never really sure about living so far from home. Washington DC

has such different customs from Las Vegas. I loved experiencing new

things and having a story to tell in the future.”

– Leader Natalie

“I am going to make many different choices in my lifetime. Just because of this trip, I already know what to

expect on the east coast. I now know I don’t like the cold and that I

prefer the heat.” – Leader Troy

“The cross country trip changed my view of the world. I always thought everywhere would be the same. I was wrong, everything is really

different.” – Leader Dariel

“There is one thing I believe that has not changed over the trip. To me, it

does not matter where you come from. Everybody is different and because we are from Las Vegas doesn’t mean that we are any

different. Everyone is different and if we were the same nothing would be able to be made. Everyone has different skills and should try to do things that they think are right.”

– Leader Nestor

The whole group at the Goldfarb ES parking lot: packed & ready to go @9:30pm

Goldfarb ES custodian Mr. Paul

helping with luggage

Kingman, AZ Amtrak Station

@12:30am

Ready for the drive to AZ

“I am so glad to be on this trip to Washington DC because it would change the future for me such as having good grades, knowing where to go to college and to also see what are the differences from Vegas.”

– Leader Brandon

Miss Mosca’s dad Mr. Mosca,

chaperone

Starting reflections at the Kingman Station thanks to Mr. Adam’s journal donations

Kingman platform: ready to embark on train 1 for almost 2 days @2:30am

Leader Natalie’s mom Mrs. Pen,

chaperone

Leader Alyssa & Leader Frankeisha, LVHS

Leader Linda & Leader Natalie, East Career &

Technical Academy (ECTA)

Leader Troy, LVHS & Leader Nestor, ECTA

Leader Austin, Green Valley HS & Leader Hector, ECTA

Leader Dariel & Leader Brandon, Las Vegas HS

(LVHS)

Leader Angel, Eldorado HS & Leader Adrianna, LVHS

Leader Angelica & Leader Natasha, ECTA Leader Jenny, LVHS

Amtrak Conductor Darren! Entertainment included magic tricks & asking each student

their family’s country of origin. He commented we were one of the most diverse groups he’s

ever seen! Leader Angel’s mom Mrs. Fort,

chaperone

Amtrak dining car experience: LSA Diner Pauline took care of us!

More writing reflections with our southwest

view

How we slept for 5 nights

“From being aboard two trains it became clear that on the east coast, you did whatever you could to be on top. While the people living on the west coast are laid back. Over my experience on the two trains, I saw the relations between

the east and west coasts are very different.” – Leader Natasha

Kansas City, MO @7am

Founder/Executive Director Miss Mosca & Leader Nana in the lounge car aka the students’ favorite part of the train ride

School on the train: reflections on NY Times article on lack of low-

income students graduating from college

Reading about college persistence

Fort Madison, Iowa @11am – we got on train 2 in Chicago, IL @3pm

With Asst. Conductor Rich who took care of us for 2 days!

Arrived in Washington, DC after 18 hrs on train 2 @12:40pm. After boarding all our luggage at the

station, we found NV State Board of Education District 3

Representative Allison Serafin & former CCSD teacher Miss Yi!

Being tourists in a new city! Finally out of the station @1:30pm after we found Mr. Hakim Walker, GWU Doctoral student who was our extraordinarily patient and fun tour guide/host during the 27.5 hours in Washington, DC

“My experience on this trip also helped me make different choices in my life and life in general. Choices such as trying new things, being careful when crossing roads, never walk alone, and many other choices. I’ve already known about these choices but when in different states, you have to take it more

seriously.” – Leader Angelica

Miss Mosca’s fave part of the trip: Senator Reid’s intern who gave us

our tickets just happens to be from east Las Vegas and attended the

same middle school as most of our students. Lance Arberry: an

inspiration as students murmured “I could be him someday” as we left

the Senate Hart Office Building

Our invitation, tickets & map

East Las Vegas takes over NV Senator Harry Reid’s Office

“Going to these places has made me realize that I need to go to college and do good in life if I want to live and travel to places like this. It makes

me want to get good grades because if I get good grades I can go to college and get a degree. If I get a degree, I get a job and make tons of

money so I can live in a place like this. It is amazing because we met someone at Harry Reid’s office and he actually went to Harney Middle School the same one I went to and now he is someone who works for

Harry Reid. That goes to show that someone from Vegas can go to a place like this if they try hard enough and get good grades. I learned that you

have to work hard to be able to achieve something great. I haven’t had a goal since I started high school, but each and every day I’m starting to

realize that I’m working towards the goal of college because I want to be able to experience traveling and seeing all these places. I also want to

make my parents proud because they have never been to the east coast, well at least my mom hasn’t,

and I want them be able to see me achieve something great and see the amazing places I’ve gotten the chance to see and I want them to see it too.”

-Leader Linda

Crowded Metro station: over 800,000 people are estimated to have attended the Presidential Inauguration

Unforgettable experience: first

subway ride

“In the cross county experience I’ve learned a ton of things about myself. It not only changed my point of view of the world but made me realize what I want in life. I want to get out of Vegas and experience things Vegas

can’t offer me. I realized I want to live somewhere where the weather changes all the time, and live somewhere where I’m surrounded by huge sky scraping buildings. I want to live in a city and meet new people!

I want to make it big.” – Leader Alyssa

“All I wanted to see was the Lincoln Memorial. It was my favorite part of the trip.” – Leader Adrianna

Group shot in front of a freshman dorm

Group dinner at T.G.I. Friday’s on the GWU campus

Parent chaperones get some relief

“Something really interesting about

this trip was learning things

about myself that I had never taken

much consideration of. For example, I had never thought

about exactly where I wanted to end up living when

I grew up and graduated.”

– Leader Angel

Waiting together from about 6-9am

Our fellow yellow ticket holders

@4:30am searching for breakfast – unlike

Las Vegas, almost nothing was open!

At about 9am we made it through our gate

Made it through security!

Security check

We kept ourselves busy in the cold (cold for us!)

until about 11am when festivities started

No matter your political beliefs, this will remain a life-changing moment for Leaders in Training. 4 years ago, most

of these students were in 5th grade watching the Presidential Inauguration in the “Leaders in Training”-themed

classroom with then CCSD/TFA teacher Miss Mosca. No one could have guessed

they could be in Washington, DC watching the next Inauguration

together as part of a college access non-profit. In 4 years all leaders will

pay back the trip by ensuring they are watching the 58th Presidential

Inauguration as college students.

All leaders slept during the 18 hr train ride back to Chicago with snow, snow, snow everywhere on the ride back!

Walked through the hundreds of thousands of people back to Union Station arriving around 1pm. After

collecting all our luggage back & waiting to depart @4pm, we ran into Nevada State Education

Association’s ESEA support staff representative Jacqueline Whitfield & her daughter Sade— a junior at Southeast Career & Technical Academy! Thank you Ms. Whitfield for being the one who informed Leaders

in Training of Senator Reid’s Inauguration ticket public lottery!

“I love Chicago. The Art Museum there… God I felt like I

was in the higher clouds of heaven instead of heaven

itself. I wanted to faint and cry, but I didn’t want people in LIT

to look at me weird (I think they already know!).”

– Leader Jenny

Layover @9am until departure @3pm.

Learned the definition of COLD: 1 degree.

Half went to the Navy Pier in students’ first

cab ride while the other half warmly fell in love with the Art

Institute of Chicago – ran out of time for more college visits!

“I plan to change my life around. I plan to do this on three principles. Hard work is one because if you don’t work hard how are you supposed to get stuff done? Endurance because

if you can’t keep up with your homework how are you supposed to keep your grades up? Last, but not least,

personality because without that hard-working personality how do you hope to get anywhere in life?”

– Leader Austin

dd II ll t dd thhii thh

@12:30am on 1/24 arrived safely back in Kingman, AZ. Amazing 1.5 day ride back including Tom in the café, beautiful KC station, reflections on the train, NM having a namesake city/hand-crafted gifts in Albuquerque & an

Amish culture lesson from a fellow passenger. All students returned by 2:30am. WE DID IT: WE MADE HISTORY TOGETHER! TIME TO TAKE ACTION

THROUGH BETTER GRADES TO ENSURE SUCH OPPORTUNITIES ALWAYS EXIST.

Thank you for the generous donation of your time Tha

CHAPERONES

• Robyn Fort • Eric Mosca • Erica Mosca • Val Pen

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Amanda Williams

ank you for the gen

HOSTS

• Hakim Walker • Mr. & Mrs.

Richard McConkie

Val Pen McCon

• Nassim Agange • David Blodgett

• Amanda Fulkerson • Ian Helm

• Benjamin Koch • Paloma Martinez • Yousuf Marvi • Denise McDade • Carol Mosca • Saswato Roy • Kirsten Searer

• Rasheed Thompson • Victor Wakefield

• Jacqueline Whitfield

GOODS

DONATIONS

• Adam Johnson • Amanda Williams

SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP & PERMISSION

Principals:

• John Anzalone, Eldorado HS • Debbie Brockett, LVHS • Glenda Goetting, ECTA

•Jeff Horn, GVHS

Leaders in Training is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves as an after school college access program for Las Vegas students. With some of the highest high school dropout, unemployment, and foreclosure rates in this nation, Leaders in Training aids underrepresented students to have the: (1) academic attainment (2) financial literacy (3) higher education information and (4) leadership skills to apply, attend, and graduate from a 4-year university. Follow us on Facebook & Twitter Contact: emosca@leaders-in-training.org

“I’ve always cared what

people used to think about me because I never believed in

myself, I would always doubt myself, I mean I would try but I gave up too quick, so I’m glad

I am in Leaders In Training. I love the way we get helped out and get tutors and we

learn we can make our career become real. I just want to

show the people that made me feel bad about myself and

treated me wrong that I can do anything they can do.”

– Leader Frankeisha