Linden fourth-grader to get close view of presidential inauguration

LINDEN, Ind. (WLFI) - Typically, if you’re in fourth grade, the only way you learn about the government is through classrooms. But one Linden fourth-grader will be getting a first-hand look at the 57th presidential inauguration with her family.

Pleasant Hill Elementary School student Abigail Eutsler will attend two balls and meet members of the state’s Congressional delegation when she travels to Washington, DC.

Abigail will be present at the Indiana Society of Washington, DC, Inaugural Ball in the Omni Shoreham Regency Ballroom the night before the Jan. 21 swearing in ceremony.

The ball celebrates the inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who are expected to attend, and honors incoming Gov. Mike Pence and Lt. Gov. Susan Ellspermann, as well as Indiana’s two U.S. senators and nine U.S. representatives.

Abigail’s family - brother, Andrew, and parents, Therese and Mark Eutsler - will be guests of U.S. Sen. Dan Coats for the swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. They will also attend the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s Inaugural Ball, a unified celebration for all Americans that will span every hall in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on the evening of Inaugural Day.

She will also meet U.S. Selective Service System Director Lawrence Romo at the agency’s national headquarters in Arlington, Va. Obama appointed her father to chair the agency’s District Appeal Board in 2010.

When Abigail gets back, she’ll be presenting her experience for her class so they can hear about the inauguration.

Abigail was in Washington for the 56th presidential inaugural in 2009 when she also attended two balls, met former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton and was escorted by U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer.

The presidential inauguration isn’t the only one she’ll be watching. Her grandfather, Joseph Wagner, of Jasper, retired Dubois County veteran service officer, will be performing with the Celebration Singers at the Indiana governor’s inaugural. Ellspermann, of nearby Ferdinand, invited his group.