Trip to capital exciting, frustrating for students
But crowds can't ruin once-in-a-lifetime journey
Cheers erupted at a table of Naperville students when a host at the inaugural ball they attended Monday night asked how they felt about Inauguration Day.
"I already have an Obama shirt and I'm wearing that tomorrow," said Joe Frantik, a 16-year-old sophomore at Naperville Central High School. "The atmosphere ... it's so cool."
(Jonathan Miano/Naperville Sun)
Jonathan Miano / Staff photographer
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• Inaugural Ball
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Twenty-eight students and four adults loaded up their plates at the ball, held at the Doubletree Hotel about three miles southwest of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. They'd just finished two days of touring that social studies teacher Donna Mohn described as "a lot of plan A's that became plan C's."
Crowds and lines have required Mohn to continually revamp the itinerary. After giving in to heavy traffic around the capital building and rejecting a two-hour wait at the National Archives, the group spent Monday afternoon at Mount Vernon.
But keeping a flexible schedule allowed them to attend the "We Are One" concert Sunday afternoon, where they stood next to the Washington Monument and listened to entertainers like Bruce Springsteen and Bono perform just across the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial.
As she and her classmates watched the musical performances and speeches by Obama and Biden, Taylor McLean, 16, said she was struck by a feeling she can't describe.
"It's an emotion that you can't explain," McLean said. "It's peaceful and exciting, but it's so overwhelming. During the concert I wanted to tear up ... I can't explain it."
Sophomore Mike Kallay, 15, said the best part about the trip is the mood in Washington.
"Everyone is so excited and everyone legit believes in him and there are no doubts about him," he said.
Along with about 1,000 other students who arrived in waves throughout the night, the Central students danced and posed for photos beside large cardboard cutouts of Obama, Biden and former U.S. presidents. The ball was one of six hosted by Smithsonian Student Travel in the course of the four-day inaugural celebration.
As the students danced, Mohn and the other three adult chaperones offered their impressions of the city's atmosphere. Todd Wolmberg said he is struck by how hopeful everyone seems.
"It was cool walking around because people were all happy," Wolmberg said. "Everyone was in good mood."
But to Katie Schnoebelen, 18, the inauguration's focus is misplaced. The senior said she wishes more emphasis would be placed on the presidency and not on Obama himself.
"I almost think they're making it into too much celebrity and not enough about the inauguration," Schnoebelen said. "It's more like putting his face up everywhere."
Although the group has had trouble getting in to landmarks, transportation hasn't been bad so far, Mohn said. Her biggest concern would have been getting all the students downtown for the inauguration via train -- until she learned last week that their bus had received a permit to park downtown. They'll take off on the bus at 6 a.m. this morning, she said.
Humanities coordinator Mike Bochenski said the bus trip to the inauguration will be exciting, because for once, everyone will be headed to the same place.
"Tomorrow, we're on the same road to this common celebration, and that's cool," Bochenski said.
