ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Local teen recounts inauguration trip

Last Tuesday, while most of his classmates were at home watching Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony on television, Corbin High School freshman Evan Baylor was in the nation’s capital for a first hand account of the festivities.

Baylor, who was able to attend thanks to the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, is one of an elite few who were able to take part in the event on an invitation only basis. He said the process actually got underway in 2005 when he attended his first conference with the group.

“I was nominated by one of my teachers in 2005 and I spent a week there with the Junior National Young Leaders Conference,” he said. “I was able to go and see all the monuments and see the city do a lot of activities.

A photo of the mass of people gathered on the Washington Mall to witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama Jan. 20. The photo was taken by Corbin High School freshman Evan Baylor.

“The next summer I got another invite, this one was from the JNYL Alumni and it was to go to Boston, so I got to spend a week in Boston,” he added. “We got to see all of Boston and go to Lexington and Concord and all of the places around there. So, because I went to both of those conferences, I got an invite to attend the Inauguration.”

Even though it was going to be his second trip to D.C., Baylor said when he found out that he was going to be able to attend the event, excited was an understatement for the way he felt.

“I was really excited when I got the invitation,” Baylor said. “I got it a year ago, and even though we didn’t really even know who the nominee was going to be, we knew it was going to be historic.

“We were either going to have the first woman as a Vice President or we would have the first black President, so the opportunity to attend was something you couldn’t pass up.”

As for the atmosphere surrounding the conference, Baylor said it was like no other he has experienced with large crowds and media surrounding almost everything happening, not to mention some of the speakers he was able to hear. He also said the inauguration itself was like nothing he had ever witnessed.

“The conference was completely different than what I had been to,” he said. “There was a lot less time with your individual groups doing activities, and it was more go, go go, all the time.

“We had speakers everyday, which included author Doris Goodwin, Gen. Colin Powell, journalist Lisa Ling, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Al Gore, which was really cool and kept us busy,” he added. “The inauguration was just crazy because we were pushed around here and there and there were sirens going off and people yelling, people clapping. It was just crazy.”

As for the aforementioned speakers, Baylor said he really enjoyed Ling, but his favorite was Desmond Tutu, a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid and, in 1984, became the second South African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Lisa Ling I really enjoyed, she was funny and very inspiring,” Baylor said. “She said we have all our life to sit behind a desk and do a job you don’t like, which was a really good point, so it makes you think before you go off to college and get a job as soon as you can.

“Desmond Tutu was my favorite because he was so funny,” he added. “He’s close to 80 years old and he just told jokes to keep everyone laughing, but he was so serious at the same time. It was really insuring to hear him speak.”

With the inauguration behind him, Baylor has had some time to reflect on the events. Despite the hectic pace and all that surrounds politics, he said he definitely wants to pursue a career in that area after college, where he thinks the sky may be the limit.

“I think I will go into law when I go to college and major in that,” he said. “After that I can hopefully try to work up to congress and maybe even President or something like that.”

The Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) helps scholars develop and sharpen their leadership skills by examining the leaders of the past and empowering them to make a positive social impact in their community and the world. Geared toward looking at leadership through a practical, everyday lens, JrNYLC incorporates a detailed examination of eight leadership traits and focuses on leaders in American history and social advocacy. Distinctive site experiences, hands-on exercises and workshops bring these concepts to life, while students work together to develop action plans that affect change within their home and communities.