Ciara attends Barack Obama inauguration

Feb 12 2009 by Richard Mooney, Hamilton Advertiser

Ciara attends Barack Obama inauguration

A LUCKY Blantyre schoolgirl had the trip of a lifetime when she went to see Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration ceremony.

Ciara Brian (17), a sixth year pupil at Calderside Academy, was offered the chance to visit Washington DC after her aunt, Fiona MacLeod, a retail chief for BP in the USA, managed to get her tickets through some of her corporate business partners.

Ciara, whose family moved to Hamilton from Campbeltown in August, jumped at the chance to see the inauguration and, with the full support of her school, travelled to the American capital to witness the historic event.

She said: “It was just incredible to be a part of that history. Everyone was really cheerful and clapping. They were all on such a high.”

Clearly still taken aback by the inauguration that saw an estimated three million people visit Washington, Ciara said the whole experience was incredible.

She said: “It was amazing when President Obama made his acceptance speech. As soon as he stood up to speak, there was this massive hush over the crowd.

“Once he finished, the crowd just erupted with applause and there were people crying, smiling and getting really emotional because of it.

“He’s such a good public speaker, it was like everyone was in the palm of his hand.”

Ciara took in the ceremony from atop the Honeywell Building, located a short distance northwest from the White House, where she said the view was breathtaking.

She said: “It was huge. If you leaned right over the roof you could see miles and miles of people.

“You could see right over the entire capital and the view of the ceremony was also amazing.”

Ciara was invited to some of the official inaugural balls, but because she isn’t 21 she wasn’t able attend of them.

“However, she still managed to attend one unofficial ball in celebration of Barack Obama’s inauguration.

She said:”“There was a big ice sculpture of the capital in the middle of the ball.

”It was slightly more intimate than the inauguration but, surprisingly, everyone was still so excited.”

To see more pictures of Ciara’s amazing trip to the inauguration, log onto our website at www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk.