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Friday, January 19, 2001

Texans, from ZZ Top to Moody High, ready to party
Students tour Capitol Hill, Library of Congress
By Venessa Santos-Garza
Caller-Times
From the crush of traffic to the steps of Capitol Hill, Victoria Zepeda felt overwhelmed as

Zepeda

she toured Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
   "I felt so tiny," Victoria said. "Walking inside the Capitol knowing that it has been there for years and years . . . that was the most awesome thing."
   Victoria, along with a group of her classmates from Moody High School, spent a year raising money to attend the presidential inauguration on Saturday. The group of 70 departed from Corpus Christi on Wednesday afternoon.
   Christy Moreno said she enjoyed the trip to Capitol Hill, but it was really the Library of Congress that knocked her off of her feet.
   "I have never seen so many books in my life," she said. "I don't think I will ever forget that."

Cantu

   John Cantu couldn't decide what part of the day's events moved him the most because all of it was amazing.
   "We have been doing a lot of walking," he said. "But it is just a great place to be. The Capitol, the (National) Archives, seeing the Declaration of Independence, all of it."
   The students left Corpus Christi about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, drove to Houston by charter bus and from there flew to Washington, D.C, on Thursday.
   John said he was too nervous about his first plane ride and too hyped about the trip to get much rest.
   "You know how when you are just so excited that you can't sleep? Well that was me (Wednesday) night," he said.
   Steve Van Matre, trip co-sponsor, said that John's excitement was common among the students.
   "They really did not get much sleep last night," Van Matre said. "We are all basically running on adrenaline at this point."
   For many of the students, the trip is the first time they have ever been on a plane, for others it's their first time out of Texas. Most are hoping it will be the first time they see snow.

Moreno

   Christy, who was worried about turbulence on her first flight, said landing felt like riding a roller-coaster. "But I think I did alright," she said. "My stomach only felt a little funny."
   When the students arrived in the nation's capital about 11:30 a.m., they immediately began touring and noticed the hustle and bustle of a big city.
   "There are taxi cabs everywhere," Victoria laughed. "You never see stuff like this in Corpus."
   But so far, Washington, like Corpus Christi, hasn't brought them snow.
   "It is not as cold as we thought it would be," John said. "When we were leaving Houston the pilot announced that there was a chance of snow (in Washington) and everyone clapped, but when we landed ... nothing."
   It likely won't snow for the students today. The temperatures today are expected to be in the mid- to high 30s with a chance of thunderstorms. The students might get their first glimpse of snow on Saturday.
   Even without snow, Christy said all the work she did during the past year to raise the money, the time she put into the group meetings and into planning the trip, is worth it.
   "I have never seen so many buildings and so much history in one place," she said.


Staff writer Venessa Santos-Garza can be reached at 886-3752 or by e-mail at_santosv@caller.com

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