Secretary Duncan And Governor Daniels Came To My Class!

Rheelink

My name is Andrew Porter and I am in the seventh grade at Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am here today to talk about what it was like to have Secretary of Education (Arne Duncan) and the Governor of Indiana (Mitch Daniels) come to our school and visit my class.

My day started off in first period with my teacher Mr. Larson. In first period Mr. Larson explained who was coming to our school and why. When he told us who was coming, that is when my nerves kicked in. I was so nervous I couldn’t focus on our lesson. Really the Secretary of Education and the Governor of Indiana are coming to our school…I couldn’t believe it!

Second period came next with Ms. Kim and the excitement was still all throughout my body. The class looked scared and we mostly admitted to it as well. There was one thing I forgot about. We had a science exam and it was a long one. To calm myself down of all of the excitement I just thought about my favorite hobby basketball and I flew through that test in a breeze. After second period was finished it was time for lunch. Lunch was usually time for us to relax and catch up on the latest seventh-grade news, but today we had to eat lunch in our room because they were setting up television cameras and seating for the town hall meeting in our lunchroom.

Walking down the hallway with our lunches to our fourth period classroom, the excitement was at its peak because the buzz had started that our special guests had arrived. While eating lunch, the whole class was talking about the cameras and the ways our lunchroom had been transformed for the special event. While I was still nervous, I tried to keep it to myself.

It was fourth period when Governor Mitch Daniels and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan began touring the school. The excitement and nervousness was impossible for us to contain. Yet we knew we had to get it together by fifth period, when our distinguished guests would be visiting my class.

Finally it was time. Our class was in our best posture of all year ready to see Governor Daniels and Secretary Duncan walk through the door. Then, it happened, cameras and flashes everywhere. They walked in while we were in the middle of mirroring our teacher using gestures and words to understand the five stages of plot.

Mr. Larson asked Mr. Robinson, our principal, if he wanted to stop our class for questions. He did. First, Governor Daniels and Secretary Duncan asked if we had any questions. At first, no one raised their hand, so I stepped up and asked a question. I asked, "How hard was it achieving your position and what did you have to do to get there?"

Governor Daniels answered, "It was extremely hard and I had to work hard everyday even having late nights, but anything working hard for is worth it in the long run." Soon other students were asking questions to our special guests. In the end, I felt their visit was a great success. They had to leave to go to the meeting, but everyone wanted to hear more from them.

Mr. Larson was so proud of our class and said we did an awesome job. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.