Spring Break
Despite snow, students find way to celebrate Inauguration
Elise Phillips, Assistant Pulse Editor
Issue date: 1/22/09 Section: News
Despite class and campus event cancellations, snowy weather and icy roads, ECU students still managed to celebrate the swearing in of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, on Tuesday.
Some curled up on their couches to watch the swearing in of the country's first African-American president, while some braved the weather to watch the Inauguration first-hand in Washington, D.C.
Junior communications major Kyndall Peele was supposed to attend the Inauguration events sponsored by the university's Office of Institutional Diversity on Tuesday--where she is a student assistant-but those events were cancelled because of the inclement weather. Instead, she gathered some close friends together and celebrated at her apartment in Greenville.
"Seeing that I was snowed in, I had a little Inauguration get together," Peele said. "My friends came over and we had a breakfast celebration at my house. When [Obama] said his oath we all cheered and we were all excited and we all talked about how that feeling was and what it means as a minority and as a nation."
Student Melissa Hege, who worked as the ECU field organizer for Obama's campaign in Greenville, was in the nation's capital on Tuesday when Obama took his oath of office.
"It was kind of surreal [and] it was hard to believe," Hege said. "It kind of brings a tear to your eyes. There were people everywhere, it was just insane, and it was good to be in an environment that was 150 percent for Obama. It was hard not to inspired by the events of the day, it was history."
Both Peele and Hege were impacted by this historic Inauguration, whether they were in Greenville or Washington, D.C.
Peele said the Inauguration ceremony was a defining moment in her life where she thought of the struggles that African-Americans have endured to get to this point.
"It was very overwhelming-I was happy and crying," Peele said. "It was one of those moments where you think of everything your parents and grandparents went through."
Some curled up on their couches to watch the swearing in of the country's first African-American president, while some braved the weather to watch the Inauguration first-hand in Washington, D.C.
Junior communications major Kyndall Peele was supposed to attend the Inauguration events sponsored by the university's Office of Institutional Diversity on Tuesday--where she is a student assistant-but those events were cancelled because of the inclement weather. Instead, she gathered some close friends together and celebrated at her apartment in Greenville.
"Seeing that I was snowed in, I had a little Inauguration get together," Peele said. "My friends came over and we had a breakfast celebration at my house. When [Obama] said his oath we all cheered and we were all excited and we all talked about how that feeling was and what it means as a minority and as a nation."
Student Melissa Hege, who worked as the ECU field organizer for Obama's campaign in Greenville, was in the nation's capital on Tuesday when Obama took his oath of office.
"It was kind of surreal [and] it was hard to believe," Hege said. "It kind of brings a tear to your eyes. There were people everywhere, it was just insane, and it was good to be in an environment that was 150 percent for Obama. It was hard not to inspired by the events of the day, it was history."
Both Peele and Hege were impacted by this historic Inauguration, whether they were in Greenville or Washington, D.C.
Peele said the Inauguration ceremony was a defining moment in her life where she thought of the struggles that African-Americans have endured to get to this point.
"It was very overwhelming-I was happy and crying," Peele said. "It was one of those moments where you think of everything your parents and grandparents went through."
Be the first to comment on this story