Obama inauguration a dream realized for many Fox Valley students

On the first day of Elgin Community College's second semester, hundreds of students clustered around the big-screen TV in the school's Jobe Lounge.

Jeff Metzger, the college's director of technology services, said he received an overwhelming number of requests from students and staff members wishing to watch Tuesday's inauguration, causing the department to set up a projector in the gym.

So many students logging onto computers to see the inauguration streaming live over the Internet, "piqued our network," causing connection times to slow drastically, Metzger said.

"It's a good kind of crazy today," he said. "A good use of technology."

Denise Jefferson, of Aurora, who works in ECC's academic development department and attends classes part time, said she had never entertained the thought of the nation electing a black president.

Jefferson, an African American, said she spent much of Tuesday "walking around, grinning at everybody."

Watching Barack and Michelle Obama spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day advocating service, "It makes you want to do better," Jefferson said. "After all, we are in this together."

Sociology professor and Elgin Area School District U-46 board member Joyce Fountain said she wished she could put her emotions into words Tuesday.

"The question that I always pose to my classes is, when we break the presidential mold, what will (Obama) be like?

"It's heavy," Fountain said of this new individual. "Obviously there's this intellectual side. But for African Americans, electing (Obama) is a full recognition of what the culture has achieved."

In Carpentersville, Brianne Ebervein's fifth-grade class at Liberty Elementary had their eyes glued to the television Tuesday, watching not only the inauguration festivities, but for a glimpse of a special friend.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster this fall agreed to take the class mascot, Flyer, a stuffed dog, to the event with him. Ebervein dressed the pup in a tiny tuxedo for the trip.

"We hope he doesn't have a problem getting through security," Kaitlin Schab, 11, said.

Ebervein also included disposable cameras in Flyer's carrying case, hoping Foster will use them to take pictures for the class.

"He's pretty lucky," Miguel Miranda, 10, said of Flyer's journey.

While most of their classmates at South Elgin High School were taking final exams Tuesday, two lucky students had the opportunity to both attend - and cover - the inauguration.

Abby Smith, a freshman in the school's BEACON academy for broadcast and communications, attended the inauguration with a leadership program she has participated in since middle school. Senior Ryne Vitug's father is in the FBI.

BEACON Academy chairwoman Carol DePue said Vitug and Smith planned to spend Tuesday working as a journalism team, with Smith shooting video and Vitug narrating the event. Both students will be journaling about their experiences, bringing notes back to fellow students next week, DePue said.

When they return, Vitug and Smith, along with their classmates, will work on editing the inauguration coverage to be used in the school's government classes.