In the midst of political stalemates, failing economies and growing national poverty rates, seven students went to Washington, D.C. to see our representatives and participate in the emerging Occupy Movement.

This October, nine social workers spent four days in Washington, D.C. participating in the October2011 “Stop the Machine” protest. As a way of sharing the experience, I put a video together for our fellow students and faculty members at Tulane University’s School of Social Work. Now, I would like to share this video with you.

After spending four days in Washington, D.C. as a supporter of the now-global Occupy Wall Street movement, I felt inspired to explore what’s happening in my local city of New Orleans. Since returning from our participation on Freedom Plaza last weekend, news of the movement has only expanded across the media. Currently, more than 200 U.S. cities have joined the Occupy movement, and that number has only been increasing worldwide.

This past Saturday signified a day of global solidarity for the movement. It also marked one of the most moving and inspirational days I have had since moving to New Orleans two months ago.

On Sunday at midnight, October2011′s Stop the Machine permit for occupying Freedom Plaza expired. While some, like our group from the Tulane School of Social Work, had to return to our respective cities, many held strong on the Plaza. Instead of leaving the grounds at midnight, remaining demonstrators threw a dance party. They announced that 99 percent of the U.S. population were invited to join. In return, park police proposed extending Stop the Machine’s permit for four additional months. The dance party won us the Plaza.

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“We call on people of conscience and courage—all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment—to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening.” -Stop the Machine

Two main topics consume the conversations of Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza today. Whether through announcements, group assemblies or personal chatter, most cannot help but consider two large issues: moving forward from an unsuccessful protest at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and action plans after midnight.

Yesterday afternoon marked the weekend’s largest October2011 protest march through Washington, which ended with an attempted entry into the National Air and Space Museum. Though security guards and pepper spray stopped demonstrators, the mission aimed to highlight the Museum’s drone exhibit and its glorification of military executions at a public institution.

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning on Freedom Plaza. Colorful signs, banners and tents fill the square as dedicated campers emerge from sleeping bags and prepare for another day advocating for change. I sit at our “base camp” with a group of social workers from Tulane University. Many have come to know us as the “Mardi Gras crowd.”

This is my first protest, but that’s not the case for many participating in October2011. We have met activists from places like Florida, Wisconsin, California Arizona, and New York. As more activist groups form in cities nationwide, we begin uniting through one single word: Occupy.