Center for Inquiry School students watch inauguration, write to Biden, Harris
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — They’re not old enough to vote yet, but a group of Indianapolis fourth-graders took a keen interest in watching Wednesday’s inauguration of President Joe Biden.
The students are in tune with current events and, even as children, shared their opinions.
The students started off by role playing the president and vice president. They then watched a kid-friendly version of the inauguration, called the White House Inaugural Celebration for Young Americans. The students learned about Inauguration Day, and got to hear from historians about symbols that were part of inaugural events and how inaugurations have changed over time.
Their teacher said the students paid attention through the entire event.
The students also wrote letters to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Before sending them, students read the letters to their class.
“Dear Vice President Kamala Harris, I am so very proud to say that I have a woman vice president. I cannot wait for the day when I can say that I have a woman president,” said Maggie Williams, a fourth-grader at Center for Inquiry School 2.
“I’m always excited when there’s a new president in the White House and vice president because I get to learn new things like what they’re going to do. But, I’m really excited this time because not only do we have a person of color in the White House, we also have a woman, and I’ve been wanting that for a while,” said Ellie Freeman, another fourth-grader at the same school.
Alyx Crooks, their teacher, said, “I hope that they see that any one of them can become great. I hope that they can see that within each other as well and know that when you voice your opinions and when you voice your concerns that they are heard.”
Arlo Lyons, another fourth-grader at the school, said “I hope as the vice president you understand that my pronouns are valid as they/them, that I am not going through a phase, and that I am not too young. I hope that you help LGBTQIA+ rights, BLM, women’s rights.”
Another fourth-grader, Giselle Moore said, “Some changes that I want to make is to make our community a better place and to stop race and to help people work together.”
The teacher said, “They can discuss matters that I don’t think anyone would expect 9- and 10-year-olds to discuss and they’re right along with their families at the dinner table.”
Crooks said she got the idea to do this while she was a student-teacher in this same class four years ago for the inauguration of President Donald Trump.