On the trip, the group will hear from Congressman Juan Ciscomani and Senator Mark Kelly. They will visit museums, take a tour of the United States Capitol, and walk across the street to the United States Supreme Court.
Much of the trip includes workshops and discourse, organized by the Close Up Foundation, in the hopes of creating meaningful and powerful dialogue.
"I don't know if I fully grasp how impactful this could be," said Aashni Saham, who attends Scottsdale Saguaro High School. "I just know it's going to mean a lot to all of these kids and shape how we might look at government."
Students from 55 schools, 28 school districts, and 19 different cities were represented, with 41 of those schools located in Title I communities. Through a competitive process, students were selected after completing civic learning modules. They also took part in a leadership challenge project.
At the send-off from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, Cardinals Chief People Officer Shaun Mayo asked for a show of hands who had not been to Washington D.C. before. The majority of the crowd raised their hands.
Tetiana, a foreign exchange student from Ukraine who is studying in Sedona, was one of those students.
"It's exciting because this year I took U.S. History in school," she said. "It was my first year learning about the U.S. in general. It's pretty exciting because I get to see and experience everything that I learned during this year, so it's a good conclusion to my year because I'll be going back to Ukraine in a bit."