Whiz Kid Goes to Washington

Name: Dan Kujawa, 18

School: Vianney High School

Awesome experience:

Senior Dan Kujawa was chosen to tour Washington, D.C. by the non-profit Close Up, in order to see democracy in action. He recently returned.

Close Up sends students like Kujawa to the monuments and museums and holds workshops on legislation in the nation's capitol.

“Schools all across the country choose students to send. Programs go every single week. We went to Capitol Hill, took a tour and met senators. We actually met Roy Blunt,” Kujawa said, referring to Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO.

However, the group's meeting with Blunt did not go quite as expected, Kujawa said.

“We got up to Capitol Hill to meet with Roy Blunt. We get there and he makes us wait 30 minutes. We take a picture with him. He tells us a story about John F. Kennedy and told us he had to leave before we could ask any of the questions we had prepared,” Kujawa said.

Still, Kujawa said that visiting D.C. was a good experience. “I learned a lot. It was also cool to just to see everything,” Kujawa said.