ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on January 23, 1997.
In a photo published in Wednesday's New River Current, Radford High
School student Jennifer Greco sat with Michelle Cochran and Charlie
Belcher waiting for the presidential inauguration to begin. A cutline
incorrectly identified Greco.
"Word up, Bill!" cheered Steve Gore, clapping his mittened hands as a voice echoed over long speakers.
The Radford High School senior couldn't exactly see "Bill" - otherwise known as William Jefferson Clinton - because a large tree and several hundred rows of heads blocked the view.
But no matter, a set of binoculars passed around by Gore's classmates gave a sufficient view of the red, white and blue flags that hung down from the top of the U.S. Capitol, the student choir that sang of a "bridge across America" and the fuzzy outline of the man who would lead their generation into adulthood.
"I see him, I see him," said an ecstatic Ellen Moseman as she looked through the small, black binoculars. "Wow, that is cool."
The presidential inauguration was cool, and historic, and a first for the 109 Radford High juniors and seniors who got to see it Monday. But for them, it was one of many highlights on a well-oiled, whirlwind capital tour.
This is the third, and largest, inauguration trip for Radford, and has become a quadrennial tradition.
"I've talked to kids in the eighth grade who are already planning for this when they're juniors," said social studies teacher Mike Greco.
Eight years ago, as a way to see history in action, Greco and fellow social studies teacher Wayne Pridgen took 55 kids to see George Bush enter the White House. They drove a school bus and stayed in bunk beds at a youth hostel.
This time, the group took up two floors of a hotel, traveled in two charter buses and rang up a $22,000 bill.
Each child had to come up with $200 for the trip, plus spending money. Thanks to local business donations, 12 kids were given scholarship money to help. Because of schedule changes because of snow, Radford High School even rearranged its exams so that the students wouldn't miss them.
After three inaugurations, Greco has learned a few tricks to help manage such a huge flock of teens. Thirty large pizzas will feed them and a threat of the principal's office will keep the late-night water fights down to a minimum.
He even managed to find enough tickets to get all the students in the "green" section, an area behind the seated audience, but at least still on the Capitol Hill lawn. To do so, he had students ask relatives to write their state representatives for the free tickets. Greco gathered about 300 tickets and chose the best ones.
In four days, the group hit a majority of the monuments and museums, attended two plays and a dinner theater and slept as little as possible. The chaperones, most of whom are teachers, and the students, who are taking either U.S. government or American history classes, used the words "great opportunity" often.
"This is, like, history," said Zac Boor. "Clinton is the first Democrat to be re-elected in years - since, Roosevelt, I think."
Boor, who had never been to Washington, said his favorite thing was the Washington Monument, though he didn't even try to climb the stairs because he was "so sick of walking around this town."
The students were allowed to wander freely much of the time, as long as they stayed in groups.
"The coolest thing was the freedom," said Ravi Tayal. "I didn't think they'd trust us enough just to let us go."
And while some admitted to hitting the shopping areas rather than the historical sites, others wore down their soles exposing themselves to big city life.
Michelle Cochran took a taxi for the first time and Charlie Belcher wasn't sure quite what to do when a homeless man approached him and asked for money.
Moseman, who plans to attend an art college next year, was shocked to find some photographs at the Hirshhorn Museum with, well, some provocative subjects. In the Smithsonian Institution's Natural History museum, Andy Davis became fascinated with the shrunken head display. "It was the only picture I took inside a museum," he said.
The only mishap on this trip was accidental: after roads were blocked for the inaugural parade, several students wandered around the city trying to find a way back to the bus. Another group - of chaperones - had to call on a cellular phone for directions, too.
As for "Bill," Gore said proudly he turned 18 early enough to vote Clinton into a second term. He argues often with his best friend, Chris Hammond, who thinks the president is a typical politician: "He just tells people want he wants them to hear."
Other students didn't have such strong opinions, even after Clinton spoke of how life would improve in the next century - their century.
"It's not what he says," said one boy as he made the long walk back to the bus, "it's what he does."
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Lisa Applegate. 1. With frozen fingers and hungryby CNBstomachs, a group of Radford High School students leave the
inauguration a bit early in search of food. Poet Miller Williams
appears in a large screen behind them as he reads his selection.
color.