Obama inauguration is all the buzz at L.A. schools (kids raising money to go to event)

[LynneSin]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-inaugural30-2008nov30,0,4201321.story

Some lucky students will get to go to Washington for the historic event, which is expected to draw an unprecedented number of young visitors.
By Carla Rivera
November 30, 2008

When Nasser Baker's mother received a call from his school this month and began jumping and screaming, he thought she had seen a spider. But when he learned that his South Los Angeles charter school had chosen him as one of 12 students headed to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration, 10-year-old Nasser started jumping up and down too.

The event will provide a double dose of excitement, says Nasser, a fifth-grader at the KIPP Academy of Opportunity: "I've never been on an airplane before, and this is the inauguration . . . that is the most historical."

A huge crowd is expected to arrive in the nation's capital for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, though there will be only 240,000 tickets to the swearing-in ceremony Jan. 20. Many of the visitors are likely to be young students like Nasser, who are flocking to the inauguration in unprecedented numbers, according to educators and travel company officials.

<<<<snip>>>>

Gibb said her members were receiving five to 10 times more requests for this inauguration than previous ones. The travel association estimates that the number of students attending the 2009 festivities will be five times greater than those at President Bush's second inaugural, in 2005.

New Jersey-based Starr Tours, for instance, has 40 of its 50 buses booked for the Obama inauguration -- 30 of them with K-12 students. Five coaches were booked for the 2005 events

[Parche]

1. good luck finding rooms

:hi:

[LynneSin]

2. 4 blocks from the White House

:woohoo: