Newtown Students Witnesses To History

By Nancy K. Crevier and

Eliza Hallabeck

Several students from the Newtown school system can now say that they witnessed the historic moment when Barack Obama took the oath as the 44th President of the United States.

Even though it had been nearly a week since they had attended one of the most important moments in America’s recent history, the excitement still shone through in the faces of Erin Fish, Laura Bittman, Dakota France, Chris Starkey, Rachel Taback, and Sarah Grose, on Monday, January 26, as they spoke about their experiences attending the inauguration of the President last week. They, along with Bonnie Lundblad and Laura Newberry, made up the group of Newtown Senior High School seniors who attended the inaugural events in Washington, D.C. last week.

“It was a once in a lifetime thing, a chance to see history happen,” said Dakota.

The chance to see the swearing in of Barack Obama was too good to pass up, said Laura. “I’ve been an Obama supporter from the beginning. It was great to see my choice win, and all the historical significance with it,” she said.

The group, headed by NHS teachers Randi Kiely and Jason Edwards, joined high school students and chaperones from Seymour and Rhode Island on a tour arranged by Worldstrides, an educational tour company, leaving Newtown on Sunday, January 18, and returning Wednesday evening, January 21. The tour included the Student Inaugural Ball on Sunday evening, where a mix-up as to how evening wear should travel found Newtown students in their finery, but students from many other schools dancing the night away in travel clothes. “It was fun. There was a range of prom dresses to grungy jeans,” said Sarah.

The students spent Monday touring monuments and memorials, then it was up at 3:30 am on Tuesday, said Sarah, for the event they had all been waiting for. It was still early in the morning by the time the group had disembarked the bus, watched the sun rise over the Capital City, hiked several blocks, and finally staked out their spot, about halfway between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. “Significantly bundled” against the cold, as one student put it, the group snagged a quick and chilly 40 winks huddled on the ground until the pre-inaugural program began.

This was the second inaugural event for Mr Edwards, who along with Ms Kiely, had attended four years previously with a much larger group of students, he said. There was a measurable difference between the two visits, both in the mood and the atmosphere, Mr Edwards observed.

“The last time we went, it was almost as if the crowd was viewed with apprehension [by our students]. This time, they were almost looking forward to how the crowd would be. They expected it to be positive, and it was,” Mr Edwards said. “I think that’s a symptom of circumstance in our country.”

While Erin confessed to having a few qualms about being in a crowd of nearly two million people, Laura, Sarah, and Chris found the experience exhilarating. “I loved the crowd. The crowd gave us more faith in people. Everyone was so nice,” said Laura.

The students expressed more than once that one of the most remarkable things to them was the fact that everyone in the massive crowd was on best behavior. Every unintended jostle was followed quickly by an apology, they said, even as the crowd grew. “I heard that in over two million people, not one arrest was made that day,” said Sarah, a fact that was verified by Mr Edwards.

 “You could hypothesize ahead of time how it would be in the crowd, but it’s totally different being there,” said Sarah. “Standing in a crowd of people and experiencing their emotions is really different.”

For Chris, it was the reverberation of the sound system and the cheers that mesmerized him. “I never saw so many people. The crowd was so ecstatic and really nice to everybody. Overall, it was just pretty amazing,” he added.

While President Obama and the other dignitaries were just specks on the horizon, the three Jumbotrons gave the students a closeup view of the proceedings.

“There was one moment, I think it was just as Obama started to be sworn in, that it became totally silent. Two million people, and you could have heard a pin drop,” said Chris.

For Erin, the moment of the trip that remains embedded in her mind was when President Obama appeared on the giant screen that morning. “When you saw Obama walking down the stairs and knew you were there, that’s something I’ll always remember,” said Erin.

Rachel had visited Washington, D.C., several times before last week, but this trip was different, she said. For her, touring the Capitol, and walking through the Statuary Hall and Rotunda, where just one day before the new President and dignitaries from all over the country had trod, was a memorable experience.

Their energy expended, the NHS students followed up the inaugural morning at the various Smithsonian complex museums, a part of the tour that they admitted was tough. “After the initial excitement wore off, we were just tired. We mostly ended up sleeping on the steps in the museum,” laughed Sarah. “We just slept wherever we could. We were so tired,” Laura said.

The NHS students and chaperones fit in a visit to Mount Vernon, the home of America’s first president, George Washington, as well, on Wednesday.

Having witnessed the impact of attending an inauguration with two groups of students, Mr Edwards said that there is no doubt in his mind that being present at such an event affects the young people who attend. “It changes me,” he said, “and I’ve done this before. [Going to the inauguration] has those kinds of splinters that will web through their whole lives.”

“You’ll always tell your kids and grandkids,” said Dakota. “You have to experience it to feel the impact it has on you. You’ll remember this the rest of your life.”

An NHS Graduate In DC

At least two of the students who attended the inauguration with Mr Edwards and Ms Kiely said that they later found out that short distances from where they had stood in the crowd, other Newtowners had also witnessed the historic ceremony, and Mr Edwards pointed out that those connections would no doubt continue to be made throughout the students’ entire lives.

It could be that the NHS students passed right by Ed Wolf, Jr, and never knew it. By the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in the National Mall stood Ed, a computer engineering student at Rochester Institute of Technology and a 2004 NHS graduate, who said the inauguration of Barack Obama was a “really good opportunity” with a “really great person to travel with.”

“It was definitely an experience that I will never forget,” said Ed by phone on Monday,.

Through a local congressman, Ed was given two tickets for the event. He and his professor, Thomas Warfield, left for the inauguration on Monday, January 19.

As Ed wrote on his Twitter page, an Internet site designed to be frequently updated with up-to-the-minute information, “How fitting that my journey begins today on Dr Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday.”

Ed had been to the country’s capital before, but this time he brought hand warmers and feet warmers in preparation for standing outside in the cold weather.

Looking back over the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, and seeing the sea of people was an amazing sight, Ed said. “You could barely move,” he said. “There were that many people.”

On the day of the inauguration Ed was forced to stop updating his Twitter page, twitter.com/efw6415, because cellphone networks in the Washington, D.C., area had been shut down.

Ed said his friends at school have been reacting with amazement in response to his trip. Since returning Ed said he has also created an account with an Internet-based photography sharing site to share his experience with his friends.

 

Other Youth Perspectives

Wesley Morlock was scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., on January 17 for five days of learning about the election process and the varied roles of the president as part of the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference. The 12-year-old previously attended the Junior Scholarship Program, a subgroup of the Youth Leadership Council, resulting in an invitation to the inauguration this year. Wesley also expected to hear speeches by the former vice president of the United States Al Gore and former secretary of state Colin Powell, and take in the many gala events surrounding the inauguration.

Newtown High School freshman Alexander L. Taylor also attended the inauguration of Barack Obama. Alexander traveled to the capital with the People To People Presidential Inauguration Program, which is an educational travel provider. He joined a select group of People To People travelers to celebrate the event.

Both Taylor and Wesley were unavailable for comment before this issue of The Bee went to press, but Katelyn Zimmerman was on hand to share her impressions of the inauguration.

A sixth grade Reed Intermediate School student, Katelyn made the trip to Washington for the inauguration of Barack Obama with the National Young Scholars Program, a program created for high achieving young students.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Katelyn.

During the trip, the National Young Scholars attended lectures that included former vice president Gore and former secretary of state Powell speaking to the group about leadership.

On the day of the inauguration, Katelyn was one of roughly 2,300 National Young Scholars standing near the Washington Monument waiting to witness a moment in history.

“We could not see,” said Katelyn. “We were standing in the very back.”

Katelyn was in Washington for four days, but she only missed two days of school. Her parents drove her down and she stayed in a hotel with other National Young Scholars.

“You could see all the excitement then,” said Katelyn regarding the weekend before the inauguration.

The morning of the inauguration, Katelyn said the group took a trip to the Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum. She said she enjoyed all of the speakers and the trips over the four days.

“Colin Powell told us to never give up,” she said. “You just have to keep fighting for what you believe in.”

Al Gore, Katelyn said, told the group, “We should definitely take a stance for what we believe in.”