Two teachers and eight journalism students from Santa Barbara Middle School are traveling to Washington, D.C., as part of the school’s Teen Press program. This will be the program’s third trip to D.C., and second time to witness a presidential inauguration.
Ninth grade student Riva Lewis said, “I am most looking forward to the stories we will collect. As an unbiased journalist, I am going to Washington to bring back stories of our country and the people who live here. But as a person, I am looking to find some hope and have incredible conversations I will never forget.”
The group of 10 will arrive in time to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the nation’s capital. While staying at a Quaker Meeting House on Capitol Hill, they will interview artists, social entrepreneurs, politicians, activists and journalists.
The trip will also include tours and interviews at the Washington Post, the Newseum and C-SPAN for an in-depth study of journalism, while honing their own craft as journalists.
The goals of the trip were best expressed by ninth-grader Evan Sherman: “I hope that through journalism, we are able to capture the energy surrounding this upcoming inauguration. My main goal for the trip is to bring home a collection of stories portraying how the American people have chosen to react in relation to our new president.”
The students and teachers will be on the steps of the Capitol as the 45th president is inaugurated on Jan. 20. The original travel plans had them returning on Jan. 21, but when news spread of hundreds of thousands of women traveling across the country to march on Saturday the students asked if they could stay an extra day. Their teachers said, “Yes!”
“When we began planning this trip, we knew it would be an historically significant event — what presidential inauguration isn’t? However, this inauguration has taken on a different kind of historical significance from what we initially anticipated.
“And no matter what one’s own political beliefs, this is a great teaching moment for young, aspiring journalists,” said Teen Press teacher Kara Petersen, who is the faculty organizer, and will accompany the young journalists on the trip.
— Sue Carmody for Santa Barbara Middle School.