A Lawrence teacher was chosen to spend a weekend in Washington, D.C., as part of a program celebrating the Bill of Rights. Amy Curtis, a teacher at the Detention Day School, participated in the Bill of Rights Institute’s “Kansas and West Texas Teachers to D.C.: Historic Encounters” program, July 8-10.

She was one of 15 teachers to make the trip, and was selected for her commitment to spreading the values of the Bill of Rights.

Curtis, who visited the nation’s capital for the first time, visited Mount Vernon, the National Archives, and Gunston Hall, home of George Mason, who wrote the precursor to the Bill of Rights, the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The teachers also heard lectures for scholars about the founding of the United States.

“The Bill of Rights is one of the main reasons I went into teaching,” Curtis said. The trip “will further reinforce my passion for our Founding Documents and the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.”