DC Tigers
A group of 12 seniors from Washington County High School, in rural north central Kansas, have traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the sites and experience a moment in American history – the inauguration of Barack Obama, the next president of the United States of America. Their thoughts, during the trip, are being posted below via text posts to Twitter. Occasional pictures and video will also be added.
Thank you to Scott Adcox of newstechzilla.com and Todd Vogts of The Ledger (Inman/Moundridge) for their assistance with this project.
Update: I’ve hooked up a feed of Joe Rundle’s YouTube videos. Little pictures of the videos will appear in this list soon. To view them, click on “untitled” or a headline and it should take you to YouTube to see the video. At least that is the plan… -Dan
The kids are doing a good job so far Dan thanks for doing all this for us .
Hi Dan!! Thanks so much for your help with the twitter and flickr — it is SOOO great to see what the kids are doing!!!
Dan
I’m having some trouble finding the kids to follow on twitter. I have found their videos on http://www.youtube.com/users and then I searched for jwrundle. I want to show my class at St. John’s Catholic the videos and also some of their twitter postings. If it doesn’t take long to respond I think other people might benefit from your explanations.
Thanks.
Did you do the full link ;
http://www.youtube.com/user/jwrundle
you should be able to click it here .
As to the tweet go to tweetdeck.com
go to down load , put icon on your desk top , search for backroadsnewsroom , find Dan , then fallow the kids form that point . Im sure it will work . If not call Dan @ work and bug him to help you . I hope this helps you out some .
hm, twitter shows it is “distressed” and can’t find people. found jwrundle’s utube stuff and it was pretty cool though!!!
How to find the students on Twitter:
Go to my Twitter account – http://www.twitter.com/backroadsnews
On the right, click on “following”. (These are the people I’m following.)
Scroll down until you see some familiar student names, I believe you won’t find any until page 2.
Then just click on either their picture or that strange square jack-o-lantern-looking face.
You will go to their page. Then just click “follow” under their picture or jack-o-lantern.
Then go back to my (or to the students) “following” tab and do it again for another student. You have to do each one individually.
The nice thing about following them is that if they forget to put the #wcindc hashtag on their, it will not show up on the blog feed, but it will on your Twitter.
Follow me while you’re at it.
And this is a joke mentioned Tweetdeck earlier.
It is a free desktop program that allows you to leave a window up on your computer screen and as Tweets are posted by the folks you are following, they’ll show up there with a cool little sound.
It is much nicer than having to open the web site all the time. Plus, you can post your own comments there too. Just Google Tweetdeck and you should be able to find it.
–Dan
One more thing.
I don’t know if the students are able to read the tweet replies on their phones or not. So I’ve noticed that a few of you are making comments to them once in a while about taking pictures or something – they may or may not see it. I don’t know.
Just one more thing. Promise.
Only about 25 or so posts are being shown, so some of the older stuff is inaccessible from this site. If you’re trying to catch up, just go to the following link (or copy and paste it into your web address slot) and it will go to my Yahoo Pipes page where all of this stuff originates. Click on the “list” tab in the middle of the page to get all of the posts.
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=654609307f629a6abceac4b9dea86416
I first visited Washington, D.C. 54 years ago, so I have enjoyed seeing the same sights through the eyes the DC Tigers. This has been a good project!
No TVL tourney updates or brackets? I know the prez is important and all but the tourney gets no space on this site? What’s up Dan?
Hmmm. TVL tourney or inauguration of a new president of the United States. Hmmm. What a tough decision. NOT.
Read all about the progress of the TVL tourney it in this week’s Washington County News.
[...] group of high school students from Kansas went to DC to cover the inauguration via Twitter and YouTube [...]
Were any of these WC kids b-ball players?
Kaitie Turner.
My point is that there was probably basketball playing seniors who would have gone without the time conflict. I think they should have anyway and just dealt with any possible retribution by understanding they were going to see something historic (I don’t know if there would’ve been any retribution, though.)
Name the last Washington County athlete to play college basketball on a scholarship. Maybe Josh Hiltgen? And that was just a year or so. I’m not sure.
Sports are good, but there are other things out there. It’s tough for kids to realize that though.
I’m not trying to make a big deal about this, and I am sure it was fun.
It was only one girl, and I don’t even know if she played varsity.
However to generalize and not point a finger at one person. You do commit to a TEAM, and in my opinion it should come first.There have been many other examples come up over time I’m sure, and I do not blame this girl or anybody else for making personal decisions. I just think the really successful people commit themselves to the task at hand and put as much into it as possible.
I understand it was a once every four year chance to see an inauguration, but my point is kids commit themselves to so many things that many aren’t able, or don’t care to put their heart and soul into a specific thing.
I bet the Hanover boys wouldn’t have left during the TVL tourney for this trip, and this commitment to their team is why they are good.
I guess my point is, you very seldom have it both ways. And if your happy with just being out for something, not giving it your all then maybe that’s ok for some, but maybe without knowing it you are hurting your team, and to me that is not fair.
I would agree with the team concept, but with exceptions. It might’ve been different if this didn’t coincide with TVL tourney. If it were just a regular week, maybe they would’ve missed just one game instead of two.
Anything is possible, but it might be different in my opinion if the Tigers were on track to win a state title or even make it to state tourney. Hanover is on that track, so that would be different to me.
But even with that. This was history. I’ll never tell my grandkids about the “time I played in a TVL tourney” but I’m sure the inauguration story would’ve come up if I attended that.
That said – if I were a WCHS Tiger senior right now, I probably would have stayed home and played basketball, because at that age, I thought sports were really important. I know better now.
Both are going to have lasting impressions on you if they are important to you. It just depends on where your importance lies.
Ya, a normal week when you play a horrible team ( I would normally enter a terrible team’s name into this sentence, but I will refrain) maybe I go. But not during a big time tourney like TVL.
No choice. I played sports, and loved them, but I love history as well. Sports will be there when I get back.
Maybe not the TVL tourn. but some other big sporting event will pop up to fill in soon enough. (And it’s not like this is the only TVL tourn. I’ve ever seen/been in.) Being in DC at this time, for these events, with my classmates will NEVER happen again. Yesterday represented the heart and soul of our nation and those young people got to expirence it first hand. No B-Ball game could ever compare.
Suppose you are a very good team and you have a chance of winning the TVL tournament. You are a valuable member of this team and if you are not there your teams’ chances of winning go down. You choose to leave and go on this trip. YOU have a great time and help make history. In the meantime your teammates, who have worked hard, gave their all to put themselves in position to do well in this tournament, get beat.
Now the question is this. Do you feel partially responsible? Should you? Is it fair to the rest of your teammates, who really want to win this tournament or game.
Were you being selfish by going on this trip?
Food for thought
Mom, you said you played sports. You said no game could compare to the feeling. You may be right in your opinion, but how do you explain that to the other 11 members of your team who thought the game was important enough to practice hour after hour in order to give themselves the best chance of winning? Could you look them in the eye and say “sorry guys, this thing in D.C. is more important than you.”
By the way dan, did the project go over as well as you hoped?
From the response I’ve received from parents, I’m very pleased. I wish we could have gotten more pictures, but there were issues with Twitpic and roaming charges, I believe. Something like that.
I do hope to see if we can’t put together a pool of photos on the inauguration Flickr group I have set up so that people can see those.
I did want the kids to experience DC and not spend their entire time Twittering us, so that is okay.
Love all the videos and I know others have too.
So all in all, except for the 48 hour downtime right before the event, I think it went well. It was online journalism 1.0 for me. I’m excited for 2.0.
are the parents of the 12 students the only ones on this website? Some of us might be interested in other things as well as the students trip.
everthing seems to have been on hold except the trip
Nice work, Dan! If nothing else, people are starting to see what Twitter & the read/write web is all about.
My 2 cents on the whole basketball vs inaugural ball debate: it would have been a very difficult choice for a high school student to make. I imagine the decisions that were made very strongly reflect the values and beliefs of the parents.
The focus on this trip is like taking history class in high school. Many kids don’t like it, but it is good for them. And later, some will be glad they went through it.
I think it was a huge event for the community… and there really wasn’t that much going on elsewhere anyway.
If I put this much focus on the TVL tourney on the blog, I’d have people complaining about that. That’s just life I guess.
But this kids are back, so I’m taking the project off sticky status and eventually life will get back to normal.
The operative word is game. How can a game compare to events that will shape the nation over the next 4 years. As for being selfish, that plays both ways, isn’t it selfish of the 11 to expect the one to give up this opportunity for a form of entertainment?
Basketball or the DC trip? Well it seems that one girl has been singled out because she chose to go to DC versus playing ball. If everyone is so concerned about why she made the choice she did, go ask her!!! I’m sure she would be willing to tell you why she chose to go to DC over playing basketball for a few days.
I think it was a wonderful and once in a life-time opportunity for these kids. I’m pretty sure coaches and team members understand that.
It all comes down to what schools/kids/coaches/communities see as most important. Some schools/kids/coaches/communities believe winning, in team sports, is really important, others must not put it as high on their priority list.
Winning in a sport is not everything . If you dont win the game but you gave it your best then you still win .
Your right, kids should just muddle through high school, try everything, not commit to being their best, and take that attitude with them in life. Then they should get on blogs and complain for months that people in washington don’t wave at them because they don’t have the right last name.
Yep that is what they should do . Follow in your foot steps
. You are still not going to get it are you . Winning is not everything . We need to fall sometimes so we can learn to pick ourself up and then understand why we fell . Like I said winning is not everything but im sure cant stand not winning . Witch in turn makes you the loser .
sure you cant stand not winning . sry for all teachers
Ok I was looking @ this hole trend and so far you are the only one on here that has a prob. with the DC trip and the person that went . Its like you have no clue . Did you not get picked as prom queen when you were a kid . Im soso sry . Like someone said befor “isn’t it selfish of the 11 to expect the one to give up this opportunity”
So, until I accept being a loser, I won’t find the true meaning of being a winner?
Accept I will. Winner, I shall become.
Man, Is it golf season yet?
OMG you got it . You have to learn how to be a good looser befor you can be a good winner . Golf is boring . Its like watching grass grow .
You poll this question amongst the best teams in the TVL and ask each kid whether they would go to DC or stay and try to win a title. What do you think the results are going to be?
The ones responding with a different opinion than me probably don’t care much about or weren’t on real successful teams.
This wasn’t ever a witch hunt, calling out a single person. Look back and I said
“I’m not trying to make a big deal about this, and I am sure it was fun.
It was only one girl, and I don’t even know if she played varsity.
However to generalize and not point a finger at one person. You do commit to a TEAM, and in my opinion it should come first.There have been many other examples come up over time I’m sure, and I do not blame this girl or anybody else for making personal decisions. I just think the really successful people commit themselves to the task at hand and put as much into it as possible.”
And yes losing is a good learning tool if you use it. Many don’t, because it’s easier than working hard to get better.
Ok you had it .Now you lost it again LOL . And yes losing does make you work harder and does make you better to . Noone can win @ everything .Like I said for one min you did have a clue now you are back to having no clue .
If Losing makes you a better winner. Than what does a tie do?
We need a life!
A tie makes a good game . I going to let you argue with yourself about this now. No matter how I send it to you I dont think you are understanding it . So I do have to say it has been fun . And im sure that others think the same . We dont have a counter on here no more so I cant see how meny hit the blog gets . Hint hint
. I will still look just to see what happens . Have a good day now . 
Let’s just agree to disagree on the issue of sports as opposed to other priorities in life.
I know I’m opening a can of worms, but what if the strongest member of a team wanted to travel to an out-of-state wedding of a sibling during TVL or a state tournament? What about a grandparent’s or other relative’s funeral? What about a Presidential inauguration? There are no concrete rules for this sort of thing, and not everyone would agree if there were rules.
It’s a good thing we live in a free country where we can make our own decisions in life. Well, most of our own decisions. Especially ones like this topic. I’m sure this girl made the decision she felt was the right one. I don’t think we have any right to judge her based on her decision. OR make the decision for her. Why argue over weather it was the right decision or not? Everyone raises their kids differently. Everyone lives their lives differently too.
admin, on January 22nd, 2009 at 8:14 am Said:
If I put this much focus on the TVL tourney on the blog, I’d have people complaining about that.
Not sure if this part of your post was in reference to my asking for TVL updates, I didn’t ask for minute to minute scoring or scoring summaries, just kind of an update of who won/lost, when the next games are, etc. I suppose I could find it at other sources, but I enjoy this site and thought it might be on here. Guess I’ll keep looking, and maybe that site will cause me to stay there….in the words of someone recently on this post…that’s just life I guess………
Tim, on January 22nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm Said:
It’s a good thing we live in a free country where we can make our own decisions in life. Well, most of our own decisions. Especially ones like this topic. I’m sure this girl made the decision she felt was the right one.
I would imagine her decision was based on the fact she is the 4th or 5th person that comes off the bench in most games. THAT IS NOT A KNOCK ON HER! I’m just saying she is not part of the starting rotation nor is she one of the first subs to get into the game. HAD she been a starter, I’m guessing the decisoin would have been a whole lot harder. As it is, if the coach feels she’s not committed to the team so he’s not going to play her much, well, she wasn’t playing much anyway. If it was a person that was a solid starter and going on the trip may affect their playing time, I’m not so sure she/ or he would have went. Only my opinion. I don’t think it was a hard decision for her because of her playing status within the team. Again, not a knock against her or her skills, had she been a starter, not so convinced she would have went.
admin, on January 22nd, 2009 at 8:14 am Said:
If I put this much focus on the TVL tourney on the blog, I’d have people complaining about that.
I can’t find where you put ANY focus on the TVL, I’ll look again.
Okay smart alec.
Any time I put posts on here about sports, whether it be problems with the TVL all-league football team, talk about the Clifton-Clyde and Hanover trip to state, etc., I get almost nothing.
Sports is not in demand right now, but I’ll see what I can fit in.
Blogismyjob,
I know the girl enjoys sports and is committed to them (look at her standings from cross county, while she wasn’t the fastest runner out there because of back problems, she finished the season). But are sports are not THE MOST important thing.
Thanks for “sticking up” for the girl. I would have said something similar to what you said had I known for sure her status of the varisty team. Since I don’t live in the area much I haven’t seen any of the local teams play in a while. I actually tried getting ahold of her mom to ask, but couldn’t reach her (probably at a sporting event)
And in my opinion sports shouldn’t be the highest priority in any high schoolers life.
blogismyjob
How insensitive. Just because you said “THAT IS NOT A KNOCK ON HER” doesn’t mean it hurts any less.
That would be like someone saying blogismyjob has really small … hands, and I MEAN THAT IN THE NICEST POSSIBLE WAY.
I would agree with the former resident of the area. Sports should not rank at the top. Sure, it is important for all kids to experience some sort of structured activity, and it is great morale for a community. But to make it a top priority?
And for the person that has no life except blogging, I don’t think I pointed a finger at you, did I? I stated a simple fact…it was not our place to judge her based on her decision.
[...] like the Washington County kids visit to Washington DC for the inauguration gives me some hope. They were sent with a mission to not only witness history, [...]
mom, on January 23rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm Said:
blogismyjob
How insensitive. Just because you said “THAT IS NOT A KNOCK ON HER” doesn’t mean it hurts any less.
That would be like someone saying blogismyjob has really small … hands, and I MEAN THAT IN THE NICEST POSSIBLE WAY.
I didn’t personally attack her…..and I’ll stick by my statement, it’s not a jab at her…. your point could have been made without personally attacking me…..
Please let me know the proper way to illustrate her position within the team….
Mom
Former Resident of the Area made the following comment….”while she wasn’t the fastest runner out there “…..
Aren’t you going to personally attack him for calling her slow?
backroadsnews, on January 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 pm Said:
Okay smart alec.
Any time I put posts on here about sports, whether it be problems with the TVL all-league football team, talk about the Clifton-Clyde and Hanover trip to state, etc., I get almost nothing.
Sports is not in demand right now, but I’ll see what I can fit in.
Now we are name calling? Again, all I was interested in was updates…not points of discussion such as “problems with the TVL all-league football team, talk about the Clifton-Clyde and Hanover trip to state, etc.”. Not everyone that reads this post is from Washington County, but we have interest in the results.
I will try to be as clear as possible.
I was not looking for a discussion thread. Only a tournament update such as what you did during football season when you was giving final game scores. Nothing more.
That was my point — her position within the team didn’t need to be brought up. It’s not so nice when the shoe’s on the other foot is it? Young people are very sensitive, leave their personal abilities out of the discussion.
Convenient, you never bothered to answer my question as to how YOU would describe her position within the team?? If someone came up to you and said, “So, Katie went to DC instead of playing in a tournament, that’s interesting, is she a starter?” what would your response be?
mom, on January 27th, 2009 at 9:33 am Said:
That was my point — her position within the team didn’t need to be brought up.
I guarantee you her “position within the team” was a factor as to whether she went. And so what if she is a sub and not a starter, do we have to be so politically correct now that we have to protect our kids if they aren’t at the top of every single thing they do? She’s out their competing, often while injured, giving her all, showing up each and every practice, even though she’s not a starter, she appears to be ok with it, so who are you to decide how she should be referred to?
Okay mom and blogismyjob,
One of the guidelines of this blog is that bloggers are not supposed to fight with each other and that is basically what you are doing. Let’s let this horse die please.
Hello all!
…When I finally made the decision to go to the Inauguration I talked to my coach first, then my parents, then my fellow senior basketball players. As for my role on the team, I am not a starter, never have been…but that was not my position on the team, I am one of the best bench warmers out there 
. I am constantly pushing my teammates and about 2 or 3 times a week I would go to school early to work on my bball and then go to class. I know my strengths were not in basketball, or rather any sport! haha, I’m ok with that! I am very good at what I do for the team; I have pushed through many adversities and my teammates were always there for me. I did not want to leave them during my last TVL tourney, but I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I do not regret my decision at all! They were all cool with me going. I had my mother go to all the games I missed (she never misses a game haha) so she could text me like 5 minute updates. At the conclusion of the games some of the girls and I had phone conversations which meant a lot to me. My role on the team is just as important at all the practices where there is no one there to watch as it is at the games. I’m not the fastest, most athletic, or even close to best all around baskeball player, but the girls’ know that I was there to push them, and tell them to expect better from themselves. Now that everything is said and done I want to thank everyone who actually came and supported us and I feel like I made the best decision for me and took everyone else on my team into account!
) and let you know what the “girl in basketball that went on the trip” thinks!
its nice to know people pay attention to us haha…and nope not an individual medalist here, but I love competing and had an absolute blast in XC and learned a lot about how much I can push myself!
Now that I have graduated I decided to look at this blog…I was told by teammates that there was a blog about me on backroads just so I would be aware. I decided not to read any of this until at least after the season and I had forgotten about it completely until I heard another thing about it a few weeks ago. I just thought I would let you know my thoughts now that everything has been settled. Someone said that they had tried to get a hold of my mom haha! she is a very busy person
Kaitie
PS I almost hope no one reads this! I just figured I would blog once (never done it!
PSS The one who made the comment on XC, thanks for checking up on the team and results!
I’d say, if there were medals for attitude, you just won 2A state gold and made your school and family proud.
Thanks for posting, Kaitie.