While people celebrated at inaugural balls Tuesday in Washington, halfway across the country Superior Middle School held an inaugural ball of its own.
A few hundred students attended the after-school event, the culmination of a week of inauguration activities beginning Jan. 14.
Eighth-grade social studies students created exhibits featuring former presidents for the display cases in the community event entrance of the school. Students gathered a collection of items with historical significance and arranged them to highlight a theme.
Tara Hansen worked with her eighth-gradecomputer class to designthe commemorative tickets to be used for the ball. The official logo of the presidential inaugural ball was included on each versionof the ticket.
On the day of the inauguration, students were treated to a red, white and blue cake for lunch, decorated by food service staff members. Breakfast also had a patriotic theme with red, white and blue yogurt parfaits.
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During the school day, most students had an opportunity to watch the swearing-in ceremony.
By Tuesday evening, staff members had worked together to ensure the ball went as planned, despite two school cancellations from cold weather last week that forced changes to the activities schedule.
Seventh-grade students Austin Fritze and Kelcy Crawford were dressed in style at the ball: Fritze wore a suit and Crawford a fancy dress. Eighth-grade history teacher Kelly Ritter-Spohn, one of the event organizers, was impressed by the two.
"Look at you," Ritter-Spohn said when she saw Fritze. "You look like Secret Service."
The seventh-graders were excited to dance to some of their favorite songs, but they also shared some thoughts about the inauguration they had seen that day.
"I thought it was pretty cool," Fritze said. "It's the first inauguration I've seen."
Crawford was excited to see Obama become the first black president and said the inauguration taught her to always "chase after your dreams." Both seventh-graders talked about Obama's speech, with Fritze saying it will be the one thing he remembers most in years to come. Crawford enjoyed the inclusive nature of the president's words.
