Forty-eight Newark students were on hand on Friday for the inauguration when President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.
The eager students loaded a bus on Thursday at 6 a.m. for the trip to Washington DC for the swearing in of the President, along with three days of history and memories.
Newark sixth and eight grade social studies teacher, Lisa Eakins began the inauguration trips in 1997 for students to experience the political process. She was joined by co-advisor, Matthew Klemann’s 7th and 8th grade social studies students.
The competition to be selected, then the planning and fundraising, began last school year. Academics and behavior were parmount to be chose. The students left by bus at 5:15 a.m. on Thursday and return Saturday evening. The whirlwind trip includes their own version of the Inaugural Ball aboard the Spirit of Washington on the Potomac River.
“Seeing our leader become our leader, I feel, is a cool opportunity,” said Jack Comella, who is in 8th grade.
You might say politics is in Gabriella Taylor’s blood.
“My father, is the mayor of Newark, so I get to hear a lot of the political information from there,” she told 13WHAM’s Jane Flasch.
For Jack, the seed was planted by a kindergarten teacher on a January day eight years ago. “She turned on the TV, and we saw President Obama put his hand on a book and none of us knew what was going on,” he recalled.
The images he didn’t understand then would become clear years later in grade school. They left a lasting impression.
“Since then, I’ve always wanted to see a president sworn in,” he said.
While in the Nation’s capital, the students will also visit Ford’s Theater, the infamous building where President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, visit the Washington Holocaust Museum.
The bus is expected to return to Newark late Saturday afternoon.
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