The City was Electric by Christine Wahlskog

In high school I had a teacher named Mr. Holmberg for social studies. He taught us about places and events around the world, many of which he had traveled to and experienced. He was one of the teachers who influenced me in my decision to go into education, and ever since I have wanted to have similar experiences that I can utilize in a classroom someday. This week I was able to travel to Washington D.C. and be present at the Inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama. The city was electric. Every person was excited to be there and the crowds were buzzing about the change that he is going to bring to our nation. Someday I am going to teach my students about January 20th, 2009 and what an important day it was in our history. When I look back at that day I am not going to remember the crowded trains or the freezing cold weather or the fact that I had to stand for seven hours; I am going to remember that I was there when history was made. I’ll remember the tears on the faces of the people in the crowd, the little kids on their parents shoulders waving American flags, the bedazzled Obama hats and the crowds chanting in unison “Yes we can!” and “O-ba-ma!” I will show my students pictures of me in front of the capitol and the ticket that proclaimed I was cordially invited to view the inauguration. I was a part of history. We all were. Two million of us were fortunate enough to be present in D.C. to witness it firsthand. And of all those people, who did I run into just outside the Capitol? Mr. Holmberg. Looks like now we’ll have a similar experience to teach our future students about.