UNION TOWNSHIP | It's one thing to go to the nation's capital with a bunch of other high-powered teens and attend a leadership conference addressed by the likes of Al Gore and Colin Powell.
But the experience goes to another level when you stick around a few more days for the inauguration of the country's first African-American president.
And the parade.
And an inaugural ball.
That's the prospect for Wheeler High School freshman Abby Zeitler, who will attend the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference in Washington from Jan. 17 to 21.
Zeitler, 15, was invited to attend the conference based on her participation in an earlier youth leadership program in the capital.
She and several hundred other participants will meet with congressional staff, take part in roundtable discussions with national journalists and attend debates with political experts in addition to listening to keynote addresses from Powell and Gore.
On Inauguration Day, the group will witness the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th president from the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall.
They'll then watch the inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue and that evening attend a black-tie inaugural ball.
Zeitler, who was student council president last year at Union Township Middle School, said she is excited about the promise of the Obama presidency, particularly in the area of environmental action.
"I just hope he can make a big difference," she said.
Zeitler also is involved in choir and drama and participated in both soccer and cross country this fall. In one race, she ran one-shoed after a competitor accidentally stripped the other, stepping on her heel near the start.
Zeitler's parents are excited their daughter will have the chance to witness such a historic inauguration.
"She's pretty lucky at this time in history to have this opportunity," her mother, Peggy Griffiths-Zeitler, said.
"I'm really happy for her," her father, Mike Zeitler, said. "She's getting an opportunity other kids might not get."
For her part, the ninth-grader is excited -- and then some.
"It's going to be so much fun," she said.
