Prelude to History

The journey began a year ago this month. As a 32-year veteran of the political jungle called a 12th grade government classroom, I felt that something about this election was going to be special. Acting on that hunch, I made the appropriate contacts and began negotiating a trip to D.C. for what, in the end, would become an inauguration of historic proportions. After the contacts were made, a sense of urgency overwhelmed me and the need to begin preparations began. I contacted the rising senior parents in May to alert them to the possibilities of this trip really happening and by the first few weeks of the new school year, there were 29 excited Americans, committed to witness a historical transfer of power. None of us knew for sure who would be involved in the transition; it didn't matter, we would be there.

When I was teaching at our sister school in Australia during the summer of 2007, my new friends from half a world away, were serving as a beacon of what was to come. I felt an excitement with them about the possibility of Barack Obama being elected that I had not felt at home. I guess it was something of a metaphysical tidal wave. As the year progressed, I felt the political swell begin to build and watched the wave begin to form. It was the most exciting election that I had ever been a part of. My students were more involved in this election than any group that I had ever had. There was an amazing energy about not only the election but the process as a whole. In addition, there were projects, polls, campaigning and finally our "watch party" in our classroom. The venue just seemed rather appropriate as the room was awash in red, white and blue complimented by the posters, t-shirts, buttons, and candidate scrapbooks that served as monuments to all the work that had been done.

Well, the rest is history and next Friday, 29 of us will board a plane to Washington, D.C. for a week of making memories. I think that we are all nervous and excited all in one; I know I am. There will be the Capitol, the Inauguration, the Pentagon and so many other sights and sounds to internalize. It will truly be something we will be able to share for a very long time.