Written by Elyse Johnson  

The chilling crowded streets were beyond exhilarating for an aspiring “poli-sci” student. There was never a better time to go to D.C. Everyone you accidently bumped into had the nicest (sometimes unexpectedly nice) demeanor. Everyone who came was there for one reason: to see a change in the world and to witness history. Most people who went were told they were crazy for going, but we all responded, “We’d be crazy not to go.” Sure it was below freezing, and, yes, there was no telling if you’d be able to see a thing, but my mother reminded me the night before the inauguration “You’re not there to see Obama’s twinkling eye but rather, to be able to say you were there and you were why that twinkle was there that day.”

I had worked three nights a week for four months to see him to the White House and to be there I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. It was my first time voting at 18 (barely making the cut) but nevertheless I felt more American than ever. I have never been a huge nationalist but to see all the people coming to D.C. from all different walks of life it was really beautiful and confirmed my ambitions to someday work in the big city. With Port-a-potties as far as the eye could see, and street vendors on every sidewalk, I realized this assembly of all these different social classes and backgrounds could never take place anywhere but in the capital of the most important country of the world.

The most inspiring thing to me was the fact that even though employment rates are down, homes are foreclosing daily, and we are going through one of the country’s worst depressions: Two million people made seeing change happen a priority, bringing along their kids, their parents and even their grandparents to  see the swearing in of Barack Obama.  

(Elyse Johnson, a high school student in Central Florida, wrote this article about her trip to the president’s inauguration at the request of her uncle, Lamar Thames. To see a photo of Elyse at the White House, click on the gallery button above.)