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Third grader gets history lesson in Washington |
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Wednesday, 04 February 2009 |
 By MICHELLE ZLOMKE
Chief Managing Editor
SARGENT -- Gus Dunbar set aside his political preferences to experience a moment of history last month.
The young Sargent school student describes himself as a Republican, following in the footsteps of his father, Bob. But that wasn’t enough to keep him from attending the Presidential Inauguration with his mother, Kristy.
“I thought the trip was a neat experience,” he said. “He (President Barack Obama) still isn’t my favorite, but I like him better.”
Gus, who is 9 years old, said he was reluctant to go and reluctant to tell his friends about the opportunity.
When his third-grade class cast their votes in a mock election, “everybody except three people” voted for John McCain, Gus said.
Kristy, a Democrat, is familiar with the Washington, D.C. area because she is from Maryland. She said that encouraged her to seek tickets for the inauguration for a man whose candidacy she had followed closely.
And she wanted to take Gus.
“I intended to take him if at all possible,” she said. “I felt like he needed to take advantage of such an exciting event and be part of history. I’ve been excited about the whole Obama campaign.”
Kristy wrote to Nebraska’s senators and congressmen requesting tickets.
Adrian Smith’s office responded with two tickets. Kristy said Smith had 188 tickets available, but received between 500 and 700 requests for tickets.
Kristy learned that they would have tickets about a month before the inauguration.
Kristy said she had to get the tickets the day before the ceremony from Smith’s Washington, D.C. office. She said that was the most challenging part of the experience.
“I thought I could get off metro (the public transportation system) and go to the Congressional office and pick up the tickets,” she said. “But essentially, all 240,000 ticket holders were in the city that day between 9 and 4.”
The next day, after arriving near the capital a little after 7 a.m., Gus got to see the crowds first-hand.
“It was a really big crowd,” he said, describing people who looked different from his Nebraska friends, spoke different languages and wore different clothing.
“I wanted Gus to understand for that day, there was no diversity,” Kristy said. “We were all there for a common cause.”
She said it was also important to show Gus that people are not all like the people he knows in Nebraska.
Gus may have understood that.
“I don’t think I saw a single cowboy hat there,” Gus said.
He said people were very friendly.
“Everybody at the Inauguration asked where I was from,” he said.
Early in the morning, the pair made the slow trek to the gate for which they had tickets and joined a throng of people about one-quarter mile from the stage.
As crowds pushed forward and moved through barricades, the flow of people took the Dunbars from the opposite of the Reflecting Pool to the side closer to the stage.
“I was three-quarters of a football field away and I could see him (President Obama) with my own eyes,” Gus said.
“I feel fortunate that, not only did we get in, we got quite close,” Kristy said.
Gus said his most exciting moment came as he and his mother unwittingly ended up with curb-side view of the motorcade.
The pair missed seeing President Obama, but were clearly able to see Vice President Joe Biden and give him a wave.
Kristy said they had not expected to see any of the parade following the Inauguration because they wouldn’t be in the right place at the right time. However, as they moved away from the Capitol, they ended up on the motorcade route.
Throughout their day in D.C., Kristy said they were caught up in a celebratory atmosphere.
“It was awesome -- an amazing, positive atmosphere in the air,” Kristy said. “It made you proud to be an American. It made you feel very patriotic and made you feel very good about your own country.”
And Gus said he came home feeling good about his trip.
“I will probably remember everything for a very long time, he said. “I’m not shy to talk about it anymore.” |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 February 2009 )
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