C-U attendees at inauguration want to be part of history
By: Melissa Merli
Sunday, January 18, 2009
WASHINGTON – Lynn Randall remembers her time at Jimmy Carter's inauguration as the most exhilarating of her life. She was then 27, working for a newly elected congressman.
Now, 32 years later, she's even more psyched to take in the inauguration in Washington of Barack Obama, the first black president.
"At last I have hope that for the youth of this country equal opportunity will no longer be a dream but a reality," she said.
The City of Champaign customer service employee is among a number of area folks who are heading for or already in Washington.
They basically said they want to be part of history.
"There really is nothing like being present at history – nameless/faceless but still there in the crowd experiencing something profound," said Lisa Gaye Dixon, a University of Illinois theater professor who will make a quick one-day trip to D.C. with a colleague to see Obama sworn in Tuesday.
With Obama soon to become the 44th president, Dixon said she finally understands what her mother's generation meant when they spoke of feeling connected to the political process when John F. Kennedy was president.
Keri Carpenter, a 22-year-old UI graduate student in journalism from Olympia Fields, already feels that connection. That's one reason she's going to D.C. with her mother, sister and a cousin.
"This was the first time I was able to vote," Carpenter said. "The last time voting came around I turned 18 one month after the election. And because young people had such an impact on the vote."
At age 14, Stephen Kocheril can't vote. But he plans to witness the inauguration as well, as part of the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.
His time in Washington is planned, with bus transportation provided. He and the other conference participants will attend roundtable discussions with national journalists, meetings with congressional staff, and debates with political experts – and a black-tie gala.
They also are scheduled to hear a speech from Lance Armstrong, the five-time winner of the Tour de France.
Other Illinois residents are traveling in groups as well. UI Professor William Patterson will take students from his black leadership class to the inauguration, by bus.
A busload of students from the UI residence halls also will go. Stephanie Halvorson Faraci, 27, of Champaign will drive to the inauguration with seven friends, most of whom work in governmental relations, as she does for Provena.
"I'm going primarily because it's such an exciting time to be a part of government," she said. "We want to be in the middle of it all even though it's going to be incredibly crazy."
She's a bit of an insider in Washington: Her mother, Debbie Halvorson, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 11th Congressional District. Faraci plans to attend a number of events hosted by Illinois groups as well as the inauguration itself.
Soon after Obama's election, Urbana resident Valari Fauntleroy contacted U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson's and Sen. Dick Durbin's offices to ask for free tickets to the inauguration ceremony.
She was elated when she heard from Johnson's office that she and her husband, David, would receive two.
She plans to party at a black churches' inaugural ball and experience the free Kennedy Center concert hosted by Oprah Winfrey. She also wants to visit museums and the new Capitol Visitor Center.
A special education teacher, Fauntleroy also plans to do community service on Monday in Washington: Obama and soon-to-be first lady Michelle Obama plan to do volunteer work that day, and ask all Americans to do the same, no matter where they are.
"This is something I've always thought could never happen in my lifetime, and it's something I want to be part of," Fauntleroy said of the nation's first black president. "I don't want to be watching it through a television."