T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Union Local Close-Up advisor Elyse Swallie, from left, Belmont County attorney Bonnie Conaway, Union Local students Grayson Swallie, Delyla Kalo, Trenton Meyer, Maggie Milliken, Gage Phillips, Danyella Erbach, Samuel Wodarcyk, and Logan Mamula, Belmont County Northern Division judge Adam Myser, and Friends of divisional courts president Zach Bigelow celebrate friends of divisional courts donating $2,500 to the close-up program.

MORRISTOWN — Belmont County Friends of Divisional Courts donated $2,500 to Union Local High School’s Close-Up program for its upcoming trip to Washington D.C.

Close-Up Advisor Elyse Swallie said that after 15 years the program will be taking a trip from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. by train on March 1-6th.

Close-Up is a nonprofit civic education organization with the mission to inspire, engage, and empower students to become active citizens.

“It’s open and available to all students, and we are going to be taking a five day trip to Washington D.C.,” Swallie said. “While we are there, we are going to have a lot of opportunities to explore Washington DC, but also get the opportunity for discussions.”

She added that the trip will include a day on Capitol Hill where the group will meet with members of Congress and their staff. The group will also attend congressional committee hearings, have lunch at Longworth Cafeteria, visit the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress.

“We are going to be able to participate in a citizen action seminar, go to Arlington, and go to the Air Force Memorial. The students will get to participate in a banquet and dance,” Swallie said. “Then on Friday, before we go home, we get to go out and sight see on our own and explore the different memorials.”

Belmont County Northern Division judge Adam Myser said that the donation comes from funds generated by the court’s annual Run For Justice 5K Run.

“Those funds are to be used to help promote local, legal government education. So whenever we have the opportunity to be able to use those funds, such as supporting Union Local Close-Up, then we absolutely want to jump on that opportunity,” Myser said. “This is exactly the purpose of why we have the nonprofit organization and the purpose for raising those funds.”

He added that he’s excited for the students who have taken the opportunity to be in the close-up program to make the commitment to not only going to Washington D.C. but joining the program.

“We’re very hopeful that we can help offset that financial obligation with being in close up,” Myser said. “At this stage in their educational career, these students will have an intimate opportunity to get hands-on in person education and seeing the national government up close and personal is a wonderful opportunity.”

He added that this is the first time that the friends of divisional courts have donated to Union Local’s Close-Up program.

“It’s my understanding that not only are these students going to have the opportunity to witness meetings at Capitol Hill and to meet local representatives and to see the governmental process, but to also kind of experience Washington, DC and all that it has to offer, including monuments and museums and different tours of our government facilities and meeting government officials and talking to them further, one on one, with what they get to offer as in their roles or in their capacity as government officials,” Myser said.

Friends of divisional courts president Zach Bigelow added that he became aware of the trip because the students wrote letters to various organizations and they wrote letters to friends of divisional courts.

“We wanted to give them a donation to help them out, just because we figured it would be a great opportunity for them, so we did,” Bigelow said. “We reached out saying that we wanted to use some of those profits from the race to help the kids out.”

He added that he remembers when he was younger and went to Washington D.C. with his school and found that the trip was very impactful to him.

“I think kids, especially at this age in high school, have an appreciation for going to D.C. plus they’re getting away from school for a little bit, seeing some hands-on stuff, and getting to meet some people in government. I think it’ll be really impactful for them,” Bigelow said.