U.S. presidential inauguration

Dal student visits D.C. for inauguration

Congressional Youth Leadership Council member watches 'history in the making'

While most Nova Scotian university students were snug in their beds on Monday night, John Hewitt was trying to sleep in a cardboard box at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The third-year Dalhousie commerce student was snagging his spot for U.S. President Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony.

"I was down at the National Mall at about 3:30 in the morning," said Hewitt by phone from Washington. "At that time, there was just a couple hundred people at the top, and then it grew and grew over the morning.

"It was really, really cold!"

Invited to attend leadership conference

Hewitt was invited to attend Barack Obama's inaugural weekend as a member of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council. The council nominates high-achieving youth in the United States and other countries as members when they finish high school.

Hewitt arrived in Washington on Saturday and participated in a four-day leadership conference featuring speeches from Colin Powell, Al Gore, James Carville and political correspondents.

Many of the early birds Hewitt met at the National Mall were also attending conferences, but others were "people from the city or all across the States who were really pumped up. We got to know some of them, had some fun, had some drinks with them."

'History in the making'

As the morning went on, the crowd stretched from Capitol Hill to beyond the Washington Monument. "You couldn't move through the crowd because it was so packed."

Estimates of the number of people who attended the swearing-in ceremony range from 800,000 to 3 million.

Hewitt was grateful for the opportunity to attend.

"I was excited to come down here to see history in the making. Everyone was dead quiet during the speech, except when he would make final points and the place would just erupt. The energy was incredible.

"I thought the speech was brilliant. I liked how short it was -- only 19 minutes, which was good, but he got some great points across. He had some backhanded comments for the last administration, but he mentioned that the U.S. will always defend itself, which I liked to hear."

Hewitt said the crowd seemed happy to bid farewell to the last president.

"They definitely didn't like the previous administration," said Hewitt. "I consider myself a Republican, as does one of my friends here, but everyone else around us was waving goodbye to George W. Bush and they sang 'na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.' Everybody was really happy to see W. Bush leave."

For Hewitt, what stood out from his trip was "the positive mentality and attitude that was associated with the weekend's events.

"It blew me away to see such big support and watch everyone come together under one idea."

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