Editor's note: Lindsey Summerlin is a senior at West Lauderdale. In the fall she was invited to be a part of Inauguration 2009 with Presidential Classrooms. Below are her journal entries from her time in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of Barack Obama. Lindsey is the daughter of Jeff and Ginger Summerlin.







Photos at right: Lindsey in front of the capitol prior to the Inauguration; Lindsey at the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.









Inauguration 2009



Saturday, January 17

Today I arrived at the Georgetown University Conference Center to begin my exciting week in Washington D.C. After standing in the longest line ever to register, I said goodbye to my parents and got on the elevator to go to my room. My roommate, Morgan Saunders from New Hampshire, was already waiting for me when I got there. After unpacking and getting to know Morgan a little bit better, we headed downstairs for the evening’s events. We started with dinner and then went right into Student Orientation, where we learned a little bit more about Presidential Classroom and the Inaugural Program that they host every four years. We also met our instructors and learned a little bit about them. We were divided into 9 different caucuses, each with 40 students from all over the world. My caucus instructors were Venetia Bell and Sean Healsey, the two lawyers of the entire group. I also got to know more about the other students in my group and we began our caucus projects. In order to complete the project, we were divided into groups of five to six. From there, we received information about President-Elect Obama’s selected cabinet members. What we were supposed to do was study the role of the department and explain the largest problem in that area and how we would handle it. After our caucus meeting was over, I returned to my room after a long afternoon ready for the next day’s events.



Sunday, January 18

On Sunday, we began our seminars. This morning we heard from Ray Rhinehart. Mr. Rhinehart spoke to us about the city of Washington D.C. He told us about how the fore fathers imagined the city in their minds and how it was built from the beginning of the independent United States of America. I thought it was very interesting how George Washington chose French architect, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, to construct the capital city. I was also surprised to find that the placement of several government buildings and monuments are in the shape of Mason symbols such as the triangle. Mr. Rhinehart is a very interesting and knowledgeable man and works for the American Institute of Architects. He was one of my favorite speakers of the entire week. After our first seminar, we left the conference center and traveled to the Jefferson Memorial to take our Inaugural photo. It was the first time we went out into the cold and I was looking forward to getting into the city and seeing how my jacket worked. After we got lined up and took our photo, we got to tour the Jefferson Memorial. Even though I had been there several times, I enjoyed looking up at Thomas Jefferson and reading the words he wrote. I love history and as I took it all in, I remembered all the things that Jefferson accomplished in order to make this nation better. Once we got back on our bus, we were dropped off by the Air and Space Museum to do an inaugural walk through. We walked from the Air and Space Museum to Union Station, so that we could pick out landmarks to look for and to familiarize ourselves so that on Tuesday we wouldn’t get lost or confused with all the people around. After getting to Union Station, we ate lunch and then continued on to the Pentagon Memorial, which was dedicated this past September 11. There were strict rules about not taking any photos until we got to the memorial. It was very beautiful and tranquil. The memorial consists of marble benches with running water beneath them, small trees, and the pentagon in the background. Each of the marble benches has the name of a person who passed away in the tragedy. They are placed depending on where the person was when the plane crashed into the Pentagon. If the person was on Flight 77, their bench is facing the Pentagon. If the person was in the Pentagon, then their bench is facing away from the Pentagon. As I walked around the memorial reading several of the names on the marble benches, I thought of all the people who lost their lives on September 11. It was somewhat surreal to be at a memorial for something that happened in my lifetime. After we left the 9/11 Memorial, we returned to Georgetown for two more seminars. First we heard from political analyst, Frank Luntz and actor, Richard Schiff from the television show “West Wing.” This was one of the most interesting seminars because both of the speakers asked us deep questions that we really had to think about. Frank Luntz spoke about how we were the next generation and what we could do to make it better. He also walked around the room continually, which none of us were used to. Richard Schiff spoke along the same lines of Frank Luntz and reminded us to make our own decisions based on our views and not on the opinions of our peers. The second seminar of the evening was given by Professor James Mayer. He spoke to us about the three branches of government and what role each plays. He focused mainly on the executive branch and the president’s role in the United States government. Then, we went to our caucus groups, where we presented our caucus projects and discussed the next day’s events. Finally, we got to go to our rooms for some much needed sleep!



Monday, January 19

This morning we started off with a tour of George Washington’s mansion, Mount Vernon. It was a beautiful morning! Even though I’ve been to Mount Vernon several times, it was still gorgeous and amazing. My group took our pictures with the house and went all over the grounds, checking out the gardens and the views of the Potomac River. We made a stop by the tomb of the Washingtons, which holds General Washington, his wife, Martha, and several other family members. Each day they have a wreath laying ceremony at the tomb. We missed the wreath laying ceremony, but it was still pretty awesome to see where our first president was laid to rest. We continued around the back of the house and then to one of the small shops. After visiting Mount Vernon, we went back to Georgetown University to have lunch. That afternoon we had two more seminars and a special presentation from the performing group “The Capitol Steps.” Earlier that morning, the program director informed us that we might get to hear from Bill Clinton that afternoon. We were all very excited about that, even if some of us were Republicans and didn’t like his presidency. So, our first speaker was the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton. He spoke to us about how the presidency has changed, about the journey that President-Elect Obama was about to begin, and about how we could succeed in life. Even though I didn’t think that Clinton had a good presidency, I enjoyed listening to him speak. It was awesome to sit five feet away from one of our presidents and listen to him address a group of high school students. It was kind of funny because as soon as President Clinton stepped out on the stage about 4 secret servicemen stepped out along the back of the stage. They all had straight faces and never broke a smile. After President Clinton was escorted out of the building, Dr. Ed Smith talked with us about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. He talked to us about being at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech almost 45 years ago. He also talked to us about how historical the next day would be. Dr. Smith told us to look from the capitol building to the Lincoln Memorial while Obama was giving his inaugural address and think about Dr. King giving his speech just across the mall from Obama. He also told us to take something from our day at the inauguration, whether it was grass from the mall or the memory of the day, to show and tell our children and great-grandchildren about. After Dr. Smith spoke, we went into our crossfire debates. My group discussed affirmative action and if we thought that it was still needed. Several opinions were tossed back and forth, but we all agreed that a person should get the job based on their accomplishments and education and that in some cases affirmative action was still needed. After supper, the entire group got together and watched Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Then, we discussed the “big day.” Our logistics manager went over all procedures for the day and what to do in case of an emergency. Once everyone received their maps of D.C. we went into our caucuses for further discussions about the inauguration. After all questions had been answered, I went up to my room to take a short power nap before waking up at 2:30 a.m. the next morning.



Tuesday, January 20

Shortly after going to sleep on Monday evening, I woke on Tuesday morning at 2:30 a.m. I was ready and down at breakfast by 3 a.m. Once everyone had gotten some hot food in their stomachs, we loaded up on the buses. The program directors were not sure how long it would take us to get to Union Station, so we left Georgetown at 4:30. Surprisingly, it only took us about forty minutes to park our buses at Union Station. We stayed on the buses until about 6 a.m. at which time we got the “ok” to go out into the crazy streets of Washington D.C. Finally, we wrapped ourselves up in gloves, scarves, and hats to make our way to the national mall, where we would take our spots to watch the Inauguration. I left Union Station in a group eight people. We made our way down to Third Street, where we took the tunnel to go under the mall. Before entering the tunnel, we took several pictures of the tons of people on the streets and the capitol at night or early in the morning. Once we made it through the tunnel, we followed the crowds back up to the National Mall. It became very difficult to stay in our group when several people merged to get into one place. We got separated as we went onto the mall and now my group consisted of five people. At first we started in the middle of the mall where we were centered on the capitol, but we could not hear the sound from the jumbotron. It took us a long time to get through the crowds, but we finally reached a point where we could hear and see the capitol. We still had several hours to wait, but we kept ourselves occupied by talking with each other and watching the concert playing on the jumbotrons. Two of my group members decided to go back to the bus because they were very cold and tired. The remaining three of my group tried to stay together as best we could throughout the Inauguration. As it got closer to 11:30, more and more people moved onto the National Mall and people started arriving at the capitol. Finally, the official presidential motorcade rolled up to the capitol and the President and President-Elect made their way to the platform where the Inauguration would take place. Several important people were introduced including senators, congressmen, and governors from each of the fifty states. President Carter and his wife and President Clinton and Hilary were introduced before welcoming the current President. As President Bush was presented, the crowd booed. I was appalled at this gesture the American people were giving our current president who had just given eight years of his life to serve our country to the best of his ability! After I got over what had just happened, President-Elect Obama was presented to the crowd and they went wild. The Inauguration had officially begun. It was amazing to see Biden and Obama take the Oath of Office along with the special entertainment that was provided. Throughout the ceremony people were crammed together to see the jumbotron. My group began to leave just after the Inauguration ended, but it was a chore to get out of the mall. After trying several ways to get back to Union Station, we received a text message telling us the buses had already left. Plan B was to walk back to Georgetown, approximately three and a half miles up the streets of D.C. I pulled out my map and figured out an easy route back to Georgetown and we got on our way. After about an hour, we arrived on the campus of Georgetown University. We had about two hours until it was time to get ready for our Inaugural Ball. My roommate and I took a short nap and then got ready for the ball. At our Inaugural Ball we had two speakers and a special guest. Our speakers were two teens from the District of Columbia, winners of local pageants. Our special guest was a senator from Wyoming. Shortly after our speakers, we kicked off the ball with some dancing. I had a blast dancing the night away with several of my new friends. After being up for twenty-four hours, I fell into the bed!



Wednesday, January 21

On Wednesday morning, I packed my bags and left the wonderful city of Washington D.C. where I had just witnessed history take place. As my parents and I drove away from the city, I reflected over what an amazing trip this had been and how glad I was that I had participated in the Inauguration with Presidential Classrooms. After a long day of driving, my parents and I arrived home at about 11 p.m.