Government students at Mason City High School are continuing their political educations by attending a trip to Washington D.C. to witness the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump with vice presidential elect JD Vance on Monday, January 20th.
Seven students are going on the trip, including Julia Hines, Olivia Wickman, Chloe Broers, Jonathan Thangaraj, Ryan Hinson, Mikey Sarik, and Brandt Haakenstad, plus two chaperones; government teacher John Lee and physics teacher Jeff Hines.
“I’m very excited for the trip! It’s such a good opportunity to learn about how the presidential transition of power works,” says senior Ryan Hinson. “Many of us on the trip have differing political opinions which only makes our experience more valuable. D.C. is full of American history and I’m sure we will learn so much.”
Senior Brandt Haakenstad feels similarly.
“I’m very excited for the trip,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity to witness the peaceful transfer of power in the most powerful country in the world. I’m excited to see D.C. and learn more about our federal government.”
This trip is set to be about $2,300 and according to Lee, will be all paid out of pocket by the students.
“I usually spend about 18 months promoting it, but this year I didn’t until September, so it was too late [for fundraisers]” said Lee.
The trip will be 4 days and 3 nights long, and the group will fly on a plane to D.C., rather than take a bus. Harmony Tours, a touring company that usually works with performing high school groups, is helping plan out this trip, and will provide security throughout, to ensure students’ safety. This company is the same one that will partner with the Concert Choir for their 5-day long trip to New York in April, where they will perform in Carnegie Hall.
According to reporting by National Public Radio, numbers for attendees of past inaugurations have risen over the years, from 250,000 for Bill Clinton in 1997, to 400,000 for George W. Bush in 2005, and to 1.8 million, and 1 million for Barack Obama in 2009 and 2013, respectively.
Although there are no official predictions for attendance this year, Donald Trump said himself that his inauguration will have an “Unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout.”
The official transfer of power will take place Monday at noon.
