Celebrating Democracy posted 1/16/09
Adrian College students and faculty attend Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration

ADRIAN, Mich. – Adrian College will be sending 22 students and several faculty/staff to Washington, D.C. this Saturday, Jan. 17 to attend the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama.

The group leaves at 8:15 A.M. and will have a busy schedule while they are gone as the trip also consists of historical tours and volunteer work. They will begin the trip early Saturday morning and will travel to Gettysburg, Pa. for an overnight stay and visit to the Gettysburg Museum and Battleground.

Upon their arrival in Washington, D.C. on Sunday they will be going directly to a free concert at Lincoln Memorial, sponsored by Barack Obama and will be in attendance. The concert features Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Bono and others. The group will then meet with Frederick Douglass IV, BJ Douglass & Melani Douglass.

On Monday Jan. 19, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the N.A.A.C.P., the group will participate in an Inauguration Tree Planting Ceremony honoring all ancestors at the Mount Zion/Old Methodist Cemetery where former slaves and freedmen and white Methodists are buried in a segregated cemetery. The cemetery is owned by Vincent DeForest and is the community service site for Sidwell Friends School Museum Visits.

Later that day, they will visit Howard University and will have dinner at D.C. famous, Ben’s Chili Bowl.

On Tuesday, Jan. 20, the group will attend the Inauguration Parade as well as the noon Inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. They will be volunteering for Project Generation Vote (GenVote.org) at the concert and at Inauguration, plus going to their party they are throwing for their volunteers (16-25) on Wednesday night. GenVote is a non-partisan organization that registers people to vote and connects them with agencies that need volunteers in their neighborhoods and cities.

The group will begin their Wednesday by meeting with Congressman Mark Schauer for breakfast. They will spend the rest of the day performing volunteer duties at several different locations throughout D.C. on Wednesday. Some locations include Capital Area Investment Building, a foundation helping low and middle income people to invest/save money via IDA accounts, and The Salvation Army. Some students will also be volunteering at Kima Public Charter School, a school consisting of 6th – 12th grade students coming from mixed incomes. Adrian College students will work with 6th-9th graders and speak to 10th and 11th graders.

The group will depart Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Jan. 22 after a tour of The Frederick Douglass House, Washington Historical Society and an exhibit of Resurrection City and the Poor People’s Campaign by Vincent DeForest.

Visit http://www.adrian.edu/WashingtonDC/ throughout the week to follow their journey during this historical moment in our country's history. Updates and photos will be posted as often as possible.