In The News

By KELLY GOOCH
A group of students from Whitehouse High School will be witnessing history on Tuesday.
Student Council Sponsor Jessica Huddleston said two sophomores, three juniors and 14 seniors will join her and National Honor Society Sponsor Teresa Hughes Sunday as they head to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

"I'm excited about seeing the students' faces when they're experiencing some of the stuff seeing the process they will go through and the education they will receive," she said.

Huddleston said she contacted U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert's office in May and asked for 21 inauguration tickets.
In November, she found out the group would get four seats, she said, so she will join three of the students in the area around the U.S. Capitol for the inauguration and the rest of the group will watch from the National Mall.

The official price of the trip was about $1,800 for each student, which included airfare, food and accommodations, Huddleston said.
However, thanks to fundraising, she said each student paid about $1,300.
Huddleston said fundraising efforts started in the summer when students held a garage sale.

School spirit shirts were then sold in October to raise money, and they had a fundraiser earlier this month in which Whitehouse High School students could pay and reserve a parking spot for themselves for the 2009-10 school year, she said.

But "many of the students did do some self-fundraising," Huddleston said, adding that one student was pretty much able to get the whole trip paid for through the fundraisers and their own self-fundraising.

Once they get to Washington, D.C., the students have a full schedule of events before they return to East Texas Wednesday night.
Huddleston said the students will go to a dance in Baltimore with other schools from around the U.S., see Arlington National Cemetery, drive through Alexandria, Va., on the way to Mount Vernon, and see the Holocaust Museum during their trip, among other things.

Students in the group had their own reasons for wanting to go to Washington, D.C., and specific things they were looking forward to.
"I love politics. I knew it was going to be a historic moment regardless of which candidate won," said George Williams Jr., president of the senior class.

As far as what he is looking forward to, Williams said "I definitely want to see the Capitol and the Library of Congress and hopefully be somewhere where it snows."
Senior Brenna Middleton said she wanted to go on the trip because she thought it was "a great way to stay involved" as far as current events.

"I've never really gotten to travel a whole lot," she said. "I'm really excited to see a whole other part of the country that I've never been exposed to."

This trip will be the first time in Washington, D.C., for Senior Brittni Barnett.
She said she is really excited about seeing the National Archives.

"I thought it would be a great way to see history. I've never gotten to see anything like this," Barnett said.

Huddleston said she wanted to thank the Whitehouse ISD school board, Whitehouse High School Principal Tony Black, faculty and friends who supported their trip.