WITNESSES TO HISTORY
Alcott Prep students heading to Washington, D.C., to watch president get sworn in again
They’re actually going to witness history, not just read about it in Miss V’s Social Studies class.
The middle schoolers are going to see the big man. Barack Obama. In person. In Washington, D.C. As he’s sworn into his second term as president of the United States.
“I think there’s going to be a speech and kind of like a celebration, in a way,” is how Rhiannon Sell, a seventh-grader at Alcott Preparatory School described it.
The last time the Chicagoan took the presidential oath, these seventh- and eighth-graders were a bit too young to make the trip.
Mostly Ryne Segura, 12, remembers how he felt (“pretty great”) and what the president was wearing (“I liked his suit”).
Miranda Rispoli, 13, was at the viewing party the school had in its auditorium.
“I remember seeing Obama standing up, doing the hand over his chest,” she said.
Jayvon Fleming once saw Obama coming out of his house, and lots of times on TV.
He’s now so excited “to get to see the inauguration in person.”
“I’m going to get to experience more things,” the 12-year-old said.
Seventeen Alcott students plus three chaperones had Saturday morning flights to the nation’s capital, cameras and iPods, extra socks and hand warmers in tow.
Their teacher, Miss V — Jenny Vincent, middle-school social studies teacher at the Lincoln Park school — hustled and pestered and called and cajoled. With help from the school’s congressman, Rep. Mike Quigley, the kids snagged a Tuesday morning tour of the U.S. Capitol with Illinois’ senior senator, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. They also finagled an appointment with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Tuesday afternoon before flying home Tuesday night.
There’s time for the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and the Newseum. And there’s a ball just for schoolchildren from across the country Monday night.
Quigley dropped off the 20 inauguration tickets he procured for the Alcott kids Friday, with a little advice:
“Enjoy it. Take pictures. Do a little research ahead of time about historical qualities of what they’re seeing.”
The North Side Democrat was happy to set aside the 20 for the group in spite of steep demand from others in his Chicago district.
“These kids are going to be able to tell their grandkids they saw Barack Obama get inaugurated. That’s exciting,” he said.
“Sometimes these inaugurals are things that kick off a generation,” he said, citing John F. Kennedy’s address that inspired public service. “So I think these kids will remember the lines of the president the rest of their entire lives.”
The 17 students and three chaperones are tooling around the capital on a bus tour with kids from schools in Texas. They’ve been given notebooks by their teacher to chronicle the journey, take notes, keep track of their photographs.
“These are all going to be primary sources because you’re there in the moment,” Vincent told them Wednesday at Alcott. “People will come to you guys for your advice and your experiences, right? Because you guys were there, and you’re there as kids and you have a whole different perspective on stuff and it’s going to be so cool to see that and see how you give that information back to your classmates when you come back.”
Agewise, Miss V’s students fit right between the Obama girls, 11-year-old Sasha and 14-year-old Malia. Naturally they wonder what life would be like growing up in the White House.
“I think it’d be good and bad,” Miranda decided, “because my mom was telling me about the different landlines like to like call their friends to just go out. It’d be really weird to have a bunch of Secret Service when you’re goofing off with your friend. It’d be kind of awkward but it’d be cool at the same time. It’d be cool that you live in the White House. I know there’s a bowling alley, swimming pool and other cool stuff.”
Rhiannon doesn’t want any part of it.
“You couldn’t have a normal life, like you couldn’t go out with your friends without having a bunch of security and people constantly tracking you down.”
“But you’d be living in history, sort of,” Miranda said, “you’d have Lincoln’s room. If I lived there I’d sneak in late at night.
“I bet you wouldn’t have to sneak,” her teacher said.
Ryne agreed it’d be a hard life. “Just because you have a lot of