Among those attending President Barack Obama’s 2nd Inauguration on January14, 2013 were Christian Brothers University seniors Tavares Mondrell Floyd (History & Political Science, (’13) and Mary Catherine Hogan (Special Education, (’13). Their actual arrival in Washington D.C. culminated weeks of planning.
Persevering for weeks, Floyd secured two tickets to the Inauguration from Congressman Stephen Fincher, U.S. Representative for the 8th District of Tennessee. Next, came two tickets to the Tennessee State Society Inaugural Ball secured through Courtney Hubbard, president of the Society. Floyd and Hogan agreed to live-tweet their experience so that the rest of the CBU community could follow them along their adventure. They began tweeting days before they left the Memphis International Airport and excitement built within the CBU community. So after weeks of pursuing a dream to attend the President’s Inauguration, two very excited students were bound for D.C.
Calling this a phenomenal experience, Floyd and Hogan travelled to Washington D.C. where they were provided housing at St. Paul’s College courtesy of the Christian Brothers who also made sure that they had accurate directions to navigate the city. Finally, the Inaugural Day arrived which they described as emotional and just a warm feeling despite the frigid weather. They were struck by the President’s optimism for the country in his speech and were inspired to continue living the CBU values of faith, service and community.
Arriving back on campus, Floyd and Hogan agreed to further share their experiences via video. In this video, they tell us a bit more about the trip of a lifetime! To see highlights of their live-tweets, take a look at: http://storify.com/fromcbu/cbu-in-dc.
