Local students among millions gathered for inauguration Tuesday in Washington
By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
FLORENCE — Four Riverfront Middle School students had the opportunity to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. Tuesday.
What’s more, they also had the fortune to see special keynote speakers, retired Gen. Colin Powell, former secretary of state; Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore; and Nobel Peace Prize winner and renowned human rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
”I am ecstatic. This is like a one-time chance,” said eighth-grader Tianangay Cooper, 14, several days before leaving for the event. “The first black president and I’m going to go hear him speak; it’s phenomenal.”
The opportunity came about through their participation in the Junior National Young Leadership Conference, a part of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council.
That program holds the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference every four years. The nonprofit, nonpartisan CYLC aims “to foster and inspire young people to achieve their full leadership potential,” according to its Web site.
Unlike the classmates accompanying her, Tianangay said she wasn’t sure about President Obama from the get-go.
”I had my doubts about it because there were certain things he said I didn’t fully agree with,” she said, including how long he said the current war might last and his proposal to increase taxes for the top 10 percent of taxpayers while lowering them for the middle class.
”I didn’t really understand it,” she said, but research helped her come to understand his opinions, she said.
After speaking with her father about President Obama’s candidacy, “I decided to fall more into (President) Obama’s hands and trusted his opinions to run the country,” she said.
Tianangay’s classmate Naomi Watkins-Granville said she also wasn’t among the first on the Obama bandwagon.
”I was a supporter, but I have to admit that I wasn’t really the first to notice him and I didn’t really think he would get elected,” she said.
Eighth-grader Devin Vogel, who turns 14 today, Thursday, said she became a supporter of President Obama early on, when she did a report on him for her computer class.
”I got to learn about his issues and background,” she said, “and I liked the way he thought of things and what he supported.”
Devin said she was particularly excited to see influential figures like Gen. Powell, and to attend the program’s black-tie inaugural ball.
Aprides Green, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, said he was a supporter of the Mr. Obama from early on in the campaign. He cited his disagreement with Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s support of the current war in Iraq, and said he believed that “a change is really what we need.”
The students began their journey on Saturday and were expected to return Wednesday. But their individual participation in the CYLC began several years ago, when each received a teacher’s recommendation to join. Their experience with the political world was evident in their hopes for the new administration.
Aprides listed specific things he would like to see President Obama accomplish in his first term. Along with stopping the current military conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said he would like to see the new president increase foreign aid, specifically to fund education. American schools could also use an increase in funding, he said.
Devin and Tianangay echoed Aprides’ concerns about war, saying they would like to see American forces withdraw from Iraq.
”I’m hoping that he’ll take us out of war, because I don’t really approve of it,” Devin said. “ I think there are better ways to solve things.”
The other issue that topped these students’ concerns was the economy.
”I hope he’ll try to help the economy because I know a lot of people are struggling,” Naomi said.
But even with the country facing major issues, the students’ enthusiasm for the event was unaffected.
”I’m just looking forward to being there because it’s history in the making,” Devin said Friday.