A High School Student's Inaugural Experience
By Gretchen Riehm

I had a dream a few nights ago about the trip. That's how ingrained it is in my head – even after two weeks of being back, I'm having dreams about flying to Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration.

 My group of high school students experienced a few minor pains of modern America. We had to watch the inaugural proceedings and address on huge television screens elevated above the crowd because we were so far away (in the "free" section), it was twenty-four degrees out with three inches of snow on the ground (that's nothing for us native Minnesotans), and we stood in line to go through the security checkpoint for an hour and a half (the crowds around us cut down on the wind chill).

 The inaugural address was well-presented, as one of my Democrat friends stated diplomatically, and all in all I considered the flight cancellations (due to snow) and hour-long bus rides to and from the hotel (our "tour guide" kept getting lost) definitely worth the trip. Down to the last pizza slice sold for fundraising.