Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Roanoke teacher attends inauguration
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Last week, as classroom televisions across Roanoke were tuned to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, many viewers in city schools probably didn't notice one of their own at the ceremony.
Breckinridge Middle School history teacher and reigning Virginia teacher of the year Stephanie Doyle was seated in Section 3, "right to the left of the Marine Corps band," and was among the lucky few who did not have to stare at a screen to watch the inauguration.
Doyle got her tickets thanks to newly minted U.S. Sen. Mark Warner. Warner's office contacted the Virginia Department of Education, saying there was a ticket available for the teacher of the year. The department then contacted Doyle who, with her husband, began making plans for a trip to Washington, D.C. Her husband, Joe Doyle, also attended the inauguration, although he wasn't quite as close.
"He was a football field away," Stephanie Doyle said.
Even though they had tickets, Doyle said she and her husband were taking no chances. They woke up at 2:45 a.m. the day of the inauguration, left their Alexandria hotel an hour later, "all bundled up," and headed to a Metro station about two blocks away. The platform was packed, even though the trains had yet to start running, she said.
It took them an hour and a quarter to get to Union Station, a trip that usually takes about 30 minutes. They waited at the station until 7:30 a.m. to stay out of the cold. Then, when the gates opened, they made their way to their respective seats to watch history unfold.
"I would rather be waiting and be able to see the event than be in bed until 6 and maybe miss the event," Doyle said.
After the swearing-in, Doyle spent another three hours in the Metro getting back to the hotel. A week ago today, she returned to Roanoke and was in school on Thursday.
"I'm pretty tired still," she said late last week. "I think I might have little bit of a cold coming on."
Still, she said, "I'm very grateful to Sen. Warner for thinking of me."
Doyle has included the election in her sixth-grade history class this year. Students held a mock election one week before the real one. Obama won a convincing 75 percent of the vote.
"Our children are very well schooled in politics," she said. "They just want what's best for the country. Many of them expressed that they needed some hope as kids with everything going wrong. And it also gives many of my kids a mentor, somebody to look up to, and I think that's really powerful."
Still, once Doyle returned to her classroom, her students seemed most excited by the celebrities she had seen up close.
"The kids aren't really worried about seeing Maria Shriver but seeing Beyonce, Jay-Z and Usher."
