Five inaugurations on the front lines with student journalists

Three Doane University students at the 2001 inauguration of George W. Bush, the only one of five inaugurals covered by students in which students could get close and actually sit to watch it. The students are, left to right, Amanda (Millard) Memrick, Elizabeth (Zaborowski) Spencer and Jonathan Hoke. (Photo courtesy David Swartzlander)

Bearing witness to democracy on the road presents challenges but pays an enormous dividend

By David Swartzlander
Past President, College Media Association

Attending my first inauguration was a dream come true.

Literally.

After I was hired in 1999 as a journalism instructor at Doane University in Crete, Neb., I was told I had a month to come up with an idea to teach a course for a two-week interval between fall and spring semesters. Students learned through mini-courses on campus or they traveled off-campus for academic reasons.

For days, I searched in vain for an idea. When my head hit the pillow one week before the proposal deadline, I still was clueless.

That’s when I dreamed I attended the 2001 presidential inauguration. And I realized that it happened every four years on Jan. 20, perfect timing for the class. I had my course.

A million dollar view for students from the “cheap seats.” (Photo courtesy David Swartzlander)

Over my 22 years at Doane, I led dozens of students to five presidential inaugurations — from the “hanging chad” election of George W. Bush to the magically historical inauguration of Barack Obama to the “American Carnage” inauguration of Donald Trump. We traveled as one news organization, reporting and sharing stories with students and readers/listeners in Nebraska.

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