America’s 250th birthday is still two years away. But there are already plans to throw her a big party — and you can get involved.
WSHU’s Molly Ingram spoke with former U.S. Treasurer and America250 chair Rosie Rios to talk about how the commission she leads prepares for the celebration.
WSHU: Tell me about America 250. How long has it been in the works, and what has the planning process been like?
RR: So this commission was formed by legislation in 2016. I was appointed by Senator Schumer in 2018 and appointed by President Biden to be chair two years ago. So this month is my first official meeting as chair, which was exactly two years ago.
WSHU: One of the ways to get involved with this is through the America's Field Trip contest. Tell me about that.
RR: Absolutely. So America's Field Trip is a national student competition for grades 3-12, asking, “What does America mean to you?” The award recipients get to choose from a series of backstage experiences, most of which had never been offered before. So part of our commission not only includes 16 private citizens along with eight standing members of Congress, it also includes many of our federal agencies, such as the part of the interior that includes the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives. And they put together the slate of field trips, if you will, that is for many of these kids, kind of this once-in-a-lifetime experience that hopefully they'll be talking about for generations to come.
WSHU: And so what is the contest? How do you get involved?
RR: If you go to our website, you'll see that you can choose to submit an essay, a video or a piece of art, depending on the grade level. There'll be lesson plans also on our website for teachers to integrate into their curriculum. You can submit your item by April 16. We have the full school year for kids to get involved.
WSHU: Can you tell me about some of the experiences that kids can win?
RR: Absolutely! So, this year, we have 75 award recipients who will get to choose from a series of backstage field trips, most of which have never been offered to the public before. So fortunately, in addition to our congressional commissioners, some of our federal agencies are also part of the commission, and that includes, for example, the Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and they've all provided these, what we're calling these field trips that really, for many of them, have never been offered to the public before.
So 75 award recipients, just as we had in our pilot program, get to choose from everything from, for example, NASA is providing a tour of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, or you can take a tour of the National Archives in the vault, which would be amazing. I've never seen that vault, most people haven't. They could also take a backstage tour of the National Zoo. We also have Mount Rushmore National Memorial on the list, along with Monticello in Virginia. One of the field trips that I had a chance to participate in in the last round was a candlelight tour of Fort Point at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And in addition to that, we're also adding the Angel Island immigration station.
So you know, for me, when I was able to participate in that candlelight tour earlier this summer, you know, I was born and raised in the Bay Area, but I didn't know much about Fort Point. And so to be able to tour it with these kids, you know, by candlelight, most of these kids have never been on a plane. A lot of them have never been out of their state. And so to experience it through their eyes, to get to participate with them was really, you know, as much fun as it was for me as it was for them.
WSHU: And for those who aren't students and can't participate in this program but still want to get involved with America 250, are there any ways to do that?
RR: Absolutely. So last July 4, we launched America's invitation. And that's a video portal that anyone could go on to the website, with your parent's permission if you're a kid, and submit your video of, maybe it's your ideas that you have for 2026. For some of us, maybe it's your memories of the bicentennial. You know, one of my favorite videos for America's Invitation is a family sitting around the piano singing a song about America. And so for many of us, who do remember the Bicentennial, you know, I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and I remember July 4, 1976, like it was yesterday. And you know, I want my kids, I want this next generation to feel what I felt, and so people should be able to share those memories, those ideas, those suggestions. You know, they can do that now.
In addition to that, we also launched our American story last July 4. Our American story allows folks to nominate someone whose story you think should be preserved in perpetuity at the Library of Congress. So you can go on our website now and do that, and then that'll inform us for next July 4, when we're literally going to hit the road and start recording these stories again across the country to make sure that this is kind of a community effort, a grassroots effort. We plan on visiting all 56 parts of the country, the 50 states, D.C., and the five occupied territories. We want to go where stories haven't been recorded before. Maybe they don't have internet access, maybe they don't know how to make a video. And so we want to go, you know, to rural America. We want to go to the deep South. We want to go to the farmlands. We want to go to tribal nations. We want to go from sea to shining sea to shining sea to make sure that people feel like this is their commemoration and celebration.
WSHU: And so, for you personally, why is it important to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America?
RR: Well, this is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and this obviously starts with the American Revolution, which is kind of this journey that this country perhaps has never taken before in terms of trying to find those untold stories. And it really again, you know, starting with the Declaration of Independence for us, you know, to understand those people who sacrificed their lives on behalf of our country, those people who served on behalf of our country, and really taking this Journey, you know, 12 years later, onto the Constitution.
From what I remember about the bicentennial in 1976 again, being this 11-year-old girl, knowing that my parents came from Mexico to Hayward, California, for us to pursue our American Dream. Now, that's exactly what I want for this next generation. I want my kids to feel the same way, that we are still the land of opportunity and that there are still many people who are risking their lives to come to this great country. And so you know that feeling and this journey is really what I think about as a retrospective, really kind of looking back.
But more importantly, this is as much about the future as it is about the past and how we can use history as a way to inspire the future, and you'll see a lot of our programming is focused on this next generation of leadership. You know, when I took that tour of the Statue of Liberty with some of these award recipients, I couldn't help but feel, you know, how monumental this moment of time is for our country and for many of these kids, wasn't just a tour of the Statue of Liberty. We literally took the Park Service boat from the island to the Statue of Liberty. We went up to the crown. We had a chance to tour Ellis Island when no one else was there and to walk the hallowed hallways of those who also came to this country to pursue their dreams. It was just unforgettable. We had lunch with the CEO of BNY, Robin Vince. We had a tour of the markets room, the trading floor, and the cyber security central command center. We ended the day at the New York Federal Reserve, learning about monetary policy and getting to see their vault and the deeds of storage. And I remember one of the participants, a young girl in high school, came up to me and said, I feel like I won the golden ticket, but this is better than Willy Wonka.
So, you know, that's what this is about. Many of these kids may have actually seen their future. Maybe they thought about maybe a career in finance, a career in technology with cyber, or maybe a career as a public servant at the Federal Reserve. And so that's what you'll find about lots of our programming. It's very interactive. It's very physical. It's very much about connection. And again, this is our way of thinking about inspiring the next generation to literally visualize their future. That's what this is all about.
