Mr. Klisowsky goes to Washington

Sam Klisowsky. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

The crowd in the national mall. (Photo courtesy of Sam Klisowsky)

The Capital Building on Inauguration Day. (Photo courtesy of Sam Klisowsky)

The inauguration of President Barack Obama may one day carry the historic importance that will place it in history classes alongside President Kennedy's inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I have a dream” speech. For those who witnessed it live in the National Mall, it’s an experience they'll never forget.

One of those people was Dalhousie student Sam Klisowsky. The first-year commerce student says it was unlike anything he's ever experienced.

“The second you stepped out of the security gates at the airport, it hit you just how many people were there for the inauguration and were absolutely ecstatic about what was going to happen,” says Mr. Klisowsky, 18, who hails from Calgary, Alberta. “It looked like Chinatown in New York with all the vendors on the street selling Obama merchandise and people were lined up to get their picture with life-size Obama cutouts."

Mr. Klisowsky was invited to the inauguration last January while still a high school student. The University Presidential Inaugural Conference, a division of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council (CYLC), extended the invite. He knew he'd be witnessing history no matter how it turned out.

“They way I figured it, it was going to be history either way,” says Mr. Klisowsky. “If it was McCain it was going to be the oldest president (at that point McCain was the projected GOP Nominee), with Clinton, the first woman or with Obama, the first African-American.”

He was rooting for Obama to win, however, and is thrilled he was able to experience Washington during this exciting time. “The environment the entire time was pure electric,” he says. He was fortunate enough to attend both the inauguration concert and ceremony.

“The concert, coming from a Canadian perspective, was very patriotic,” he explains. “Every American was very proud to be American, and everyone else could feel the American spirit in the air – it was awesome.”

Mr. Klisowsky and other members of the CYLC had relatively good seats for the inauguration ceremony. But they were hard earned.

“We got there at 3 a.m. and the doors only opened at 7 a.m. Then we had to walk through the doors of the national mall, and wait three more hours for him to come out,” explains Mr. Klisowsky. “We took turns sleeping so that someone would be able to wake the others up if the president came out,” he recalls with a laugh.

Perhaps the greatest surprise was the impression the enormous crowd left on him. Not only were the millions of people well behaved, but the diverse groups of people standing side by side, was something he didn't quite expect.

“You could see all the different classes mixed together, from fur coats to people with bags on their feet, standing together all united by the same vision,” he says. “You could tell there was a spirit of hope and change in the air.”

Mr. Klisowsky recalls when President Obama stepped out in front of the Capitol Building, the applause were deafening, but when he spoke – dead silence. He jokingly compares the sight of two million people waving American flags to an angry anthill. But the new president didn’t disappoint.

“He delivered a great speech,” explains Mr. Klisowsky. “It was inspirational but didn’t tiptoe around the tough issues. It tackled them head on and said we can get out of this.”

“He painted a great picture of America and the American spirit and that’s something great for the country. He's the new generation's president.”