Quantico by Elsa Leslie
I woke up very early on the morning of Friday March 18 2005. I flew into Washington D.C on the Wednesday for my dad's graduation from the F.B.I. Academy in Quantico, Washington. I had been to Washington the previous year and it was my favourite place in the world. My dad left three months before I arrived to do a course at the Academy and today was the day of his graduation.
It was a very formal occasion so I had to be well dressed. I wore a lovely skirt with a top and shrug to match. We were staying in a hotel which was in the centre of Washington. From the breakfast room you could see the Washington Monument, Capitol Hill, The Lincoln Memorial and The White House. Once we had our breakfast we went downstairs to the lobby where we picked up our car and drove to Quantico which is to the south of Washington.
The academy was huge. The grounds of the academy were like a city in itself. Once we got the car parked we went inside the very large double doors. We arrived at a lobby and there were many people standing around talking to other people. My dad let myself and my mum meet some people he knew. He let me meet his room mate, Tim from New Jersey, a man from Missouri called Mike Martin and a really good friend of my dad's called Jim Coker from Alabama. There were all really nice people.
Then my dad showed me and my mum around the F.B.I. Academy. He brought us up to his room to start with. There was a drawer filled with socks which had not been folded and some were very smelly. Then we opened his wardrobe. That was a sight to see. There were shirts and trousers just dumped in the floor of it in a crumpled heap! I folded all the socks up and my mum sorted out his wardrobe and it took some time getting it back into shape. He then took us to the gym. It was massive. There was a swimming pool which looked like the size of the one in the Olympics. It was so cool. Then there was a basketball court, a room with weights and a running machine, and an outside cross country run. My dad told me that every so often, the President comes to the F.B.I. Academy to run but all the grounds are closed off and all students have to stay away. He flies from The White House to the Academy in his helicopter.
Then we entered into a large auditorium in which the graduation was being held.
It was very large. There were loads of seats but every seat was filled. An American band got the ceremony off to a lively start.
The groups of men then walked onto the stage in order and received a certificate and got their picture taken with Director Robert Mueller. Mueller got appointed director by President Bush himself. My dad got voted the head of his group so he had to go on first. The whole ceremony took a long time. Once the ceremony was over, me, my mum and my dad got to go and meet Robert Mueller in person because my dad was appointed the head of his group. We also got our photograph taken with him. Then afterwards we went and spoke to some of the families. They were all really nice. That night we even went out for dinner with my dad's good friend Jim and his wife, son and two daughters.
Once we went back to our hotel after the meal we said goodbye to them and went up to our room. Then five minutes later we got a phone call to our room from Jim, asking me and my dad to come down to the lobby as he had something to give me. I had told him that I really love the American cookies so when I went down he handed me a brown bag. Inside it was the biggest cookie I had ever seen. It was still hot and the middle was full with melted chocolate. I loved it.
My dad still meets with his friends every year at a F.B.I. National Academy conference which takes place in a different country each year. When I went to Washington in 2007, I got to meet a man who is in charge of many sections of the Academy. His name is Tom Ostrosky. He is the Supervisory Special Agent of the National Academy Program. Even when I was in Florida this year he and his wife met with us. They are very nice people.
I chose this memorable day because I will remember it for the rest of my life. While I was there I met new people whom will I remember and hopefully stay in contact with for a long time. I also chose this because not many people from this country can say that they have been to the F.B.I. National Academy in IF Quantico, Washington DC for the graduation of their parent and I will always remember it proudly.
