Wrap-up

Wow. It's been quite a while since I got back. I've had time to reflect on what I learned at the inauguration (and actually the whole conference) and I just wanted to write one or two final entries to kind of wrap things up. 

The first thing I think of when I think about this experience is just how historic the event was. The biggest gathering of people on the National Mall - EVER. In hundreds of years, no one has come together to see something this big. Not only is Barack Obama the first black president, the changes he plans to bring to this nation are huge.

Another thing I think about regarding the trip is the disappointment. Out of all the things we were told (and sometimes promised) that we would do, only a few actually worked out. We didn't get to go to the Inaugural Concert that Sunday, we didn't get to spend any time at the Smithsonian, we had terrible spots at the actual inauguration . . . the list goes on. One of the biggest things I learned was how to take disappointment, and how to turn it around and find the good side of things. For example, despite all those disappointments, I had a great time. I met new people, I learned tons about being a leader, and I experienced something that lots of people never get to do in a lifetime.

If I had to describe the conference in a word, it would be disorganized. Although I enjoyed myself and learned a lot, I really thought they did a poor job following through. However, I'm not saying that it wasn't worth it; the conference has tons of potential (and I'm sure that this specific inauguration was harder to plan for that most others) and with some more planning this could have been an even better experience.

Inauguration Day - Tuesday

Well, today was the big day. Unfortunately, we were unable to experience it fully. But I'll explain that later in the blog. Remember how I said that this day was probably the most disappointing? Also, my friend Brooks and I traded her video camera for my regular camera, so I don't have pictures today.

So today, we woke up bright and early at about 5:00 or 5:30 or something, and we boarded the busses to go to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. That was kind of a bust, because we had to walk a long way in the cold, and we weren't there for long. And after that we headed (or tried to head) to the National Mall to see the inauguration, but it was incredibly crowded. Some of the more claustrophobic people in our groups actually got sick and one had to go to the hospital; but eventually we fought our way through to a place where we still couldn't see the actual inauguration, but we could hear reasonably well and heard both oaths of office, plus the first part of Obama's speech before our FA's (faculty advisors; the group leaders) decided it wasn't worth it and took us back to the busses. This was by far the most disappointing part of the whole trip. I was really looking forward to actually seeing the president get sworn in and staying for his speech (which we didn't get to hear at all, since we were walking to the bus for quite a while). So even though I can say I was part of the inauguration experience, my friends, family, and just about everyone else got a better view, even though they weren't there. Where we ended up waiting for an hour anyway because so many people got lost. A couple people got pretty close up and got to see it on one of the big screens, but of course they took a while to get back to the bus. So after that we took the busses to the Marriott Hotel for lunch, which was pretty good. Then we came back to the 4H to get ready for the "Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference Gala." The dress was pretty formal, so we had a while to get ready. The Gala was at the same place we saw Colin Powell and Al Gore speak, the Cole Field House at the University of Maryland. So when we got there, it was pretty crowded, considering there were 3,000 kids there. And according to my friend Brad, the high school Gala was on TV, so I don't know whether or not were were, too. But it was really fun, and I learned that my friend Justin is pretty much the best dancer my age that I know. And when we got back from the ball, we were given some sheets to fill out for us to recommend teachers that could nominate other students to these conferences.

Overall, I would say I definitely enjoyed this trip. However, at many times it seemed really disorganized or just not thought out enough. For example, they claimed a lot of things that didn't really come true (the Inaugural Concert, for one; another is how in the world they thought they could get everyone  in and out of the Mall so easily). But other than that everything was great: I made tons of friends and I learned a ton about leadership.

3rd Day - Monday

Today was another day of waking up at 5:30 in the morning, so by the end of the conference I should have about one night's worth of sleep. After we grabbed another "boxed breakfast," (which was still horrible) we boarded the buses and headed over to the Newseum, a museum all about news, the media, and the first amendment. After that, we came back to the 4H to have lunch. We were supposed to get in and get out really quickly, but it turned out to be about a forty minute wait and so I wolfed down some food in about 4 minutes. Then we went to Al Gore's speech about the three biggest crises in America: international affairs, the economy, and clean energy. He spoke about how if we find new sources of clean energy, that creates jobs, which stimulates the economy; also the energy would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and fix the conflict in the Middle East.  His speech was good, but Al Gore really didn't make it sound like anything new; it really sounded like a speech he had given numerous times previously. However, that's understandable, since he was given a Nobel Prize for those same ideas, and the same speech was turned into a movie, and he's probably been all over the country giving it. Even so, it was an inspirational presentation and I enjoyed it and those same ideas are always in my thoughts. After the speech, we met with our groups to discuss what Al Gore had said. Then we had dinner at the University and went back to the place where we heard the speech to see a documentary about these kids who run for president at their school. It's called Third Monday in October. The movie was supposed to teach us about leadership in a way we could relate to, but I didn't really enjoy it or find it very inspirational. There was too much "drama" too really take the movie seriously. Then the cast from the movie came and discussed it. They talked about their experience making the movie, and their leadership positions since then (the movie was filmed in 2005, I think). I found myself relating to them a little more than I could with the movie.

2nd Day - Sunday

Wow. I'm tired. Yesterday room check wasn't until 2 in the morning, so we all had to stay up until then. Then we had to wake up at about 5:30 this morning to get ready to leave at 6. So yesterday I only got about 3 hours of sleep. I think it's gonna be like that every day. Oh well.

Today (after our early bus ride with a bad boxed breakfast) we went to the University of Maryland to see Former Secretary of State Colin Powell speak to all of the Presidential Conferences. In just the JrPYIC there are three thousand kids, and in all of the conferences, there are about fifteen thousand, all of which were in this one building listening to General Powell. He spoke to us about what it takes to be a leader, such as you need a vision to start off with, a goal that you can work towards; and how to be a leader you need good followers. He told us about several of his wartime experiences, and how he climbed the ranks of the army to become a General. I really learned a lot from General Powell. Thinking about it later on, I could really understand how his lessons could be applied to being a general. Of course, they aren't only military; those same ideas can be applied to many other leadership positions.

After that we went to different rooms with our groups to discuss leadership and what General Powell said. Then we were going to go to the Inaugural Concert at the National Mall, but it was going to be too cold, so we skipped it. This may have been the single most disappointing experience on the trip (the other big let-down was the inauguration - but that's in a later entry). We watched it on TV here at the 4H and it turned out to be about 37 degrees. It was pretty disappointing.  So we hung around here until 5, then we went to Magianno's, an Italian restaurant, for dinner. Then we came back and now we get to start the whole thing over again!

Intro & First Day

This blog is about keeping a record of everything that happens at the 2009 inauguration. I am part of a youth conference call the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference (JrPYIC), which takes place, obviously, around the time of each inauguration. In 2007 I was part of another conference, the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC), and because I am an alumnus of this, I am invited to yearly conferences; this year it is the JrPYIC.

Today was the first day of this conference. I had to get up at about 5:30 in the morning to fly from Dallas, Texas to BWI Airport in Baltimore. Our flight was delayed for about 2 hours, and we had to get on another plane. When my mom and I finally arrived, we spent a while trying to find the group I am in (the conference names the groups from famous former Presidents - mine is James Madison); then I said goodbye to my mom and we had about a 45 minute drive to our hotel, the 4H Youth Conference Center. When we arrived everyone had to check in and then we were free to hang out around the rec room until about 5:00 when we met with our group (within James Madison there are about 35 groups).  At the first group meeting, I met many of the new people I'm going to be spending time with for the next few days. After that we went to the Hilton Washington hotel to have dinner and listen to the first of the speakers who will talk to our conference, Erik Weihenmayer. He is the first blind person to climb the seven peaks, the tallest mountains in all seven continents. These include Mt. Everest, Mt. McKinley, and others. He has a book out, Touch the Top of the World, in which he talks  about his experience. It was a great speech; he talked about how things like blindness, loss of limbs, paralysis, etc. are obstacles thrown at people, and some people take those obstacles and use them as fuel for their determination to overcome the obstacles. I know that sounds confusing, but here's another way he put it: some people are modern-day alchemists. They take the lead poured on them (the obstacles) and turn it into gold. 

I thought Erik Weihenmayer did a really good job of driving this point home, and he was very inspirational. What he told us was one of the biggest things I took away from my trip. And now that it's been pointed out to me, I'm beginning to see examples of this throughout my life (I added this part in italics after I got back; I'm going to put all my afterthoughts in italics throughout the blog).

We were rushed from the registration, to the group meetings, to the dinner, so unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures except a couple bad ones on my phone.

First Blog!

welcome to my new blog! this is a test posting, so there will be a couple pictures and stuff to test it out and make sure everything works all right. This should be bold and this should be italics. Great.