On a Sunday morning, sophomores toured the thousands of graves in Arlington National Cemetery when heavy rain began to fall, soaking through many students’ clothes.

“We got pretty drenched. It was a cool experience for students because the third infantry is on guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They’re there 24/7, regardless of weather. As much as we were uncomfortable standing there watching this happen, they’re there every day, regardless of what the conditions are. While we were able to then go back to the hotel and change clothes, that’s not the case for them,” AP U.S. History teacher Shane Smith said.

Sophomore AP students visited Arlington on Oct. 27 as a part of the annual Washington D.C. trip. Smith organizes the trip every year and brings up to 100 students with a few faculty members as chaperones.

“It was a very moving experience to see just how massive [the cemetery] was, how many people have been buried there and to see the amount of people that have fought and died for our country. It was quite emotional,” sophomore Madailein Elton said.

A marathon also happened throughout Arlington, which caused issues with the bus route to the cemetery. A police vehicle escorted the students in. The rain also caused a delay in the schedule, resulting in students skipping the visit to the Smithsonian Museums.

“It’s always a kind of special moment [walking around the cemetery] just because the scale of everything,” Smith said. “You see how large the cemetery is, how many headstones and the fact that everything is fairly uniform, so it’s always a kind of somber experience. It’s somewhat exciting at the same time because you’re there amongst everything and living it.”