Central High School Goes to the Inauguration

A group of Central High School seniors went to the presidential inauguration, touring Capitol Hill and attending its celebrations.

BY KRISTIAN RHIM

Central H.S. 276

In November, if you asked me if I would go to see Donald Trump’s inauguration, I probably would’ve told you no way, mainly because I don’t support the beliefs he has and the controversial things he says.

However, my social science class with Mr. Horwits has taught me that you can learn a lot by being unbiased and seeing the other side. After a long and rigorous application process, I went with 24 of my classmates as student journalists to see the inauguration of Donald Trump. It was an eye-opening experience.

Coming from a school and a city where almost everyone is a liberal and Democrat, it is almost frowned on to be a Republican or conservative. It was refreshing to be in a different atmosphere and talk to people who have conservative beliefs and support Donald Trump. When talking to the people at the inauguration about why they voted, they all gave similar responses, the most common being that they wanted a president who gave power to the people and were tired of being led by ineffective politicians. Trump hit these points in his speech and said just that he would give power to the common people.

After the inauguration, we visited the congressional offices. This was my favorite part of the day because of how down to earth the congress members were and how we walked right into their offices and even talk about politics. With Congressman Tim Ryan from Ohio, we talked about sports and joked about how bad the Cleveland Browns were. With Congressman José Luis Correa from Orange County, Cal., we talked about how the San Diego Chargers are now the Los Angeles Chargers and how his wife was really sad about that, but he could care less.

Next we went to the inaugural Freedom Ball, where I got to meet a lot of famous people and see more politicians in a different and relaxed atmosphere.

After a very long day, I was exhausted. But I would do it all over again, as this was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.

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