Last Updated: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 11:25 AM CDT
Local student invited to presidential inauguration
Hannah Shoeder to participate in Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference
by Lauren Vandenberg - special to the Daily News
It begins with a field of hopefuls, and after caucuses, primary elections, debates, whistle-stop campaign tours, sound bites on the evening news, national conventions, a flood of campaign commercials and the November election, it ends on Jan. 20, 2009 with the swearing-in and inauguration of a new American president.
Gathered to witness the culmination of the democratic process in action will be congressmen, senators, government officials, visiting dignitaries, and Hannah Shoeder, 7th grade student at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School in Rhinelander.
Shoeder has been chosen to participate in the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.
At the nomination of her teacher, Paula Schneider, Shoeder was invited to attend a Junior National Young Leaders Conference last summer in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., offered by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council.
Although barely 12, Hannah was the lone representative from Wisconsin at the conference and at the conclusion of the conference was even invited to give the closing speech before 450 people, relating what the experience had meant to her.
Faculty evaluation of Hannah's participation, responsibility, and leadership skills in last summer's conference led to the invitation to attend the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.
From Jan. 17-21, 2009, over 2,000 students from around the country will have the opportunity to participate in roundtable discussions with journalists, meetings with congressional staff, and point/counterpoint debates with leading political experts. Past distinguished speakers at the conferences have included Janet Reno, Jesse Jackson, Newt Gingrich and Ralph Nader.
The Opening Night reception includes addresses by keynote speakers Lance Armstrong, and former presidential candidate, Senator John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth.
The benefits of being a participant in the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference include private access to the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall, witnessing the Inauguration, swearing-in and Inaugural address of the 44th president, and viewing the Inaugural parade as the motorcade makes its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from the United States Capitol to the White House.
The conference culminates in an exclusive Black Tie Gala Inaugural Ball for which Shoeder is looking forward to dress shopping.
While Hannah, who her mother refers to as “our little Democrat,” has no particular favorite among the candidates, she admits that she would like to see Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama win.
Hannah admits that she sometimes finds some of the presidential debate topics tough to understand, but is interested in how the candidates will respond to such issues as the energy crisis and the war. The latter issue is particularly important to the Shoeder family as Hannah's older brother, Jonathan, served 15 months in Iraq.
Her mother noted that with five outspoken children in the Shoeder household, dinner table discussions are very interesting, and sometimes quite heated.
As a result of her participation in the youth leadership conferences, “Hannah has learned to debate both sides of an issue. I'm impressed with her open-mindedness and logic,” her mother said.
Joi Shoeder also credits Hannah's experiences in public speaking at Nativity with giving her daughter added self-confidence in expressing herself.
Hannah feels that the leadership skills that she has gained, in addition to her self-reliance and communication skills, will help her throughout her life, whether she is attending future Congressional Youth Leadership Council conferences for high school and college students, or pursuing her career goal of being a pediatric oncologist.
In order to raise the nearly $3,000 needed for Hannah to participate in the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference, the Shoeder family will be putting on a brat sale at the Rhinelander Wal-Mart on Sunday, May 18, and in the Rhinelander Trig's parking lot on Saturday, May 24.
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