Early in December, Mr. Maclin, principal, called a special assembly to announce that 26 students would be given the opportunity to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama to his second term as president of the United States.
Students would be selected based on the following criteria: they must be a junior or senior, must be passing all their classes and must have an attendance rate of 93% or higher. There were 188 students that met those requirements. Next, the students and their parents had to attend the mandatory Parent Night meeting in order to be able to submit the last requirement, which was the essay. There were 100 families who attended the Parent Night. The essay requirement consisted of writing a 750-1500 word essay about the most memorable moment of the presidential election, excluding election day and the day after. The students were given until December 10 to turn in their papers. When it was all over, 80 students submitted the essay.

On December 14, students were notified if they were selected to go to the Presidential Inauguration. At this point, selected students had to attend three different mandatory meetings to take care of forms and the $100 fee, the only fee students had to pay. Donors covered the rest of the cost of the trip. The students also had to prepare for dealing with all the media coverage from local media outlets and CNN before and during the first two days of the trip.

As Friday, January 18 arrived, the 26 chosen students and 8 chaperones had mixed emotions about the four day trip. Some were nervous to fly on a plane for the first time, some were excited about leaving the state for the first time, and others were still in a bit of a state of shock that they were even going.

“I never thought I would get the chance to go to D.C., which is the place I always wanted to visit,” said junior Marlynna Blumer.

After arriving in D.C., students were impressed at the number of national memorials they visited, including the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Pentagon Memorial, the U.S. Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetery, and many more.

“The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was just one of those places that you wouldn’t understand unless you were there,” said Darion Young, junior. “It was a lifetime accomplishment for me.”

Other students connected more with other memorials. Alexis Kozhevsky, junior, saw the Pentagon Memorial as an immediate favorite.

“The Pentagon or the 9/11 Memorial was made so recently that I had emotions for it and the structure was so simple but it had a really big message,” said Kozhevsky.

After an exhausting day of learning and fun, even the chaperones went straight to bed. Ms. Pritchard, volunteer coordinator, was one of them.

“I brought books, movies, and work, “said Pritchard. “I went straight to sleep, though. We got back late each night, so when we got back I was looking for my pillow.