Twenty-eight students will attend the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama Tuesday through the Stennis Montgomery Association, a bipartisan political group on campus.
Marianna Prather, SMA vice president for community relations, said students with the most points at the end of the semester get to visit Washington, D.C.
“We get various points throughout the semester for different activities we are involved in through the Stennis Montgomery Association,” Prather said.
The Stennis Institute of Government sponsors SMA, she said
“The Stennis Institute pays for our plane, hotel and other essential things, so all we have to pay for is transportation while in the city, food and things we decide to buy while in D.C.,” Prather said.
Besides attending the inauguration, the group will be involved with other activities to get the full experience of Washington, D.C.
Whitney Holliday, SMA president, said the group will be meeting with prominent Mississippi natives that will help them network for the future.
“We will meet with the Mississippi delegation and Mississippi congressmen, along with MSU lobbyists and military leaders,” Holliday said. “We will also be hosting a reception for MSU alumni, so the students on the trip can meet people in the area and network for the future.”
Holliday said the trip is a good way for the students to become more informed of United States politics and current events.
“Our organization is devoted to making students more aware and what better way [to do that] than to go experience the inauguration, especially one that is going to be so historical,” she said.
Jeffrey Markham, Stennis Institute research associate, said this will be third inauguration for SMA to attend.
“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” he said. “This is actually the first time we have gotten to attend a Democratic inauguration.”
The students are going to benefit in several ways from getting the chance to go to Washington, D.C., he said.
“The No.1 value is actually just going to D.C. and seeing how the political world operates,” Markham said. “We have a number of students that are not political science majors and it is eye opening to them to see how D.C. works.”
Markham said he is excited about taking this trip with students.
“This trip is the most rewarding part of working with the Stennis Institute,” Markham said. “Just taking the students up there and getting them away from Starkville and to let them get to meet all of the people in the area for networking and internships is very rewarding.”