Boston University for Barack Obama club President Stephanie Gottsch said she was so positive that President-elect Barack Obama would be the candidate sworn in on Inauguration Day that she decided to study abroad in Washington, D.C. this semester in order to experience history firsthand.
‘I’ve been on the bandwagon since the beginning,’ Gottsch, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said. ‘I ultimately always thought he would win.’
Gottsch is one of the many BU students choosing to spend the weekend in D.C. to witness what has been touted as one of the most significant presidential inaugurations in history. Though Gottsch made it to D.C. through the study abroad program, other BU students traveled the more than 440 miles to the District of Columbia just for the weekend.
Although Gottsch said she knew she probably would not see the newly sworn-in president up close, she considered it essential to be there.
‘Anyone who finds this important should be there,’ she said.
BU professor Graham Wilson, director of graduate studies for the CAS political science department, said students should take advantage of any opportunity to be in D.C. this week.
‘I think it’s a fabulous opportunity for them to be there when history is made,’ Wilson said.
Wilson said Obama’s ability to unite people, especially the younger generation, makes him optimistic about what will happen after Obama is inaugurated.
‘He is relatively young and is exuding a feeling of change from all the miseries of the last few years,’ Wilson said. ‘He knows where the younger generation is coming from.’
CAS freshman Jordan Farrer said he agrees that Obama seems to understand Farrer’s generation better than other politicians.
‘He didn’t take the same path most kids did,’ Farrer said. ‘A lot of young people today can identify with an upbringing that’s not standard.’
Farrer, who worked for the Obama campaign, said he thinks it was necessary for him to make the trip to D.C. ‘I thought it was almost imperative to be there for a very momentous moment,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t see a better time to be there.’
CAS freshman Shelagh Mollohan, a long-time Obama supporter, said earned a spot on the CAS Honors Program’s trip to the inauguration by writing an essay declaring why she deserved to attend.
The Honors Program paid for the students to fly to D.C., but students have to find their own housing and transportation within the nation’s capitol. Mollohan said she was one of the five students picked to attend out of 30 applicants.
‘We’re going to try to find a spot on the lawn,’ Mollohan said. ‘I don’t really care, because watching it on TV doesn’t compare to being here. I’ll never forget this in my life.’
Farrer said he too does not care where he stands during the ceremony.
‘We’re all realistic knowing we’re not going to be anywhere near the Capitol,’ he said. ‘It’s more the experience of being with people who are just as excited to be there as we are.’
CAS sophomore Vikas Mangipudi said he hopes to enjoy the mood in D.C. during the inauguration as well.
‘There’s going to be a lot of pomp, but you’re also there for the atmosphere and the people around you,’ he said.
Mangipudi, whose parents were able to secure tickets for his family through their participation in New Hampshire’s Democratic Party, said he is thrilled to be able to witness the new president take office.
‘It seems like an opportunity that only happens once,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot going on, and there’s a lot at stake.’
Gottsch said she is excited to see the official beginning of the new administration most of all.
‘Ultimately, this is a culmination of hard work,’ she said. ‘This is not a finale to what Obama has accomplished.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
