Many University students will spend today learning and reading about history. Melissa Guidry is one of a few who will be witnessing it — live and in person.Guidry and other students are traveling more than 1,000 miles, braving bitter cold and millions of onlookers to witness the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.”There was a sea of people screaming, ‘Yes we can! Yes we can!’ The atmosphere was electric,” said Guidry, accounting sophomore, describing the excitement      surrounding Sunday’s pre-inauguration concert.University students have caught this feverish enthusiasm along with millions of other people who are in the nation’s capital excited to witness history.”It’s a really historic day, and one day I can tell my children I was there,” Guidry said. “But right now, it is about the change in government and hopefully a new America coming.”Chincie Mouton, mass communication sophomore, heard Obama speak Saturday during a break in the president-elect’s train journey from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.”It was very exciting,” Mouton said. “Everyone was chanting ‘Yes we can’ and ‘Obama, Obama!'”Even University students who didn’t support Obama during the campaign are excited about the inauguration.Sarah Isaacs, mass communication freshman, wasn’t an Obama supporter while he was running for office, but she is attending the inauguration for the historical value of the event.Isaacs said witnessing any inauguration — especially the swearing in of the nation’s first African-American president — is an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.Ryan Orgera, doctoral student and secretary of the Geaux Obama organization, is attending the inauguration with friends and took a train from Slidell to Washington. Orgera said it’s an interesting coincidence the inauguration is falling the day after the national holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.”How fantastic is it that in 2009, we have elected someone that was born in a period where people in some parts of this country did not have the same voting rights as others because of the color of their skin,” Orgera said. “I think it’s a testament to a dream; a testament to equality; a testament to hope.” Guidry and Isaacs received tickets as a part of the University Presidential Inauguration Conference. The two saw former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Vice President Al Gore in the days leading up to today’s inaugural festivities. Along with the inauguration, the two will be attending the Black Tie Gala Inaugural Ball tonight.With tickets to the ceremony reportedly being scalped for more than $40,000, Guidry said she’s thankful for only having to pay an estimated $5,000 for the conference and the trip.For some University students, attending the inauguration is a reward for volunteering during the campaign.Kevin Brown, political science senior,  worked for Obama’s campaign in multiple states organizing voter networks for the campaign. Brown also served as the campaign’s field director in Louisiana during the general election.”Being a young person myself and having put in the time I put in with the campaign, there was no doubt I was going to go,” Brown said.  Brown said all the volunteers’ hard work was for a vision, and that “vision” becomes a reality today.Orgera thinks students’ high participation in this year’s election and inauguration is because Obama relates well to young people.”It’s easy for young people to get turned off on politics,” said Orgera. “When you have someone who is saying that he wants to change the way politics is done — that message really rings true with young people … he is the 21st century politician … I think a lot of young people see themselves in Obama.”For those students not attending the inauguration, Campus Life is hosting a televised viewing in the Union Ballroom from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.—-Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]