On Wednesday, January 18, 29 Foothill students departed for Washington D.C. to see the inauguration of the 45th president, Donald J. Trump. On the day of the inauguration, the Foothill students, accompanied by Mrs. England, and teachers Mr. McKinley and Mr. Price,  woke up before the sun rose, and began to walk to the National Mall. They arrived at the National Mall around 10:30 am, an hour before the inauguration began. At Trump’s inauguration, students Ally Parkhill, Sydney Boyd, Andrew Sanchez, Tristan Streichenberger and others were surprised by the lack of security inside the mall. “I expected a lot more security and [the inauguration] to be a lot more organized, but it was actually more laid back,” stated Parkhill.  However, according to the Washington Post, there were “28,000 security officials over 100 square blocks.” As well as additional security, the students were surprised by the number of protests. Sanchez “expected a lot of protestors,” and Streichenberger “expected it to be super crowded around [him].” Boyd also expected a lot of protestors to be in the mall, but there was “nothing really going on inside the mall.” However, the protests were an issue during the Inauguration Parade, as the students were unable to see it because of the violent protests taking place. Regardless of their party affiliation, the students were excited to see the inauguration. In an interview on FTV, Molly Di Lalla stated, “It didn’t matter your political views, it was just amazing to watch.” The students all agreed their least favorite part was walking the sixteen miles to and from the inauguration. “We walked for four hours,” said Sydney Boyd. Not only did the students attend the inauguration, but they also visited the Lincoln Memorial and the 9/11 Memorial. They also had the opportunity to see the Book of Mormon on Broadway. After an exhausting week–three days spent in Washington D.C. and two days in New York–the students returned home around 12:00 am, just in time for finals!