President-elect Obama's historic inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20 is expected to draw a record crowd, including a handful of UW-Madison students.
The Presidential Inauguration Committee has promised the swearing in of the nation's first black president to be the most open and accessible inauguration in history,"" and UW-Madison students expressed excitement at the opportunity to witness it.
""I think this inauguration shows the country is on the track of progress,"" said UW-Madison junior Bryon Eagon, former state coordinator of Students for Obama.
Eagon and UW-Madison freshman Jamie Stark acquired their tickets after serving as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Stark said he thinks it is significant that Obama accepted the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s ""I Have a Dream"" speech and will be inaugurated the day after the holiday commemorating King.
""[Obama's election] is very much a realization of a dream of the whole nation ... and Dr. King wasn't the first one to dream it, but he put it into words better than anybody else,"" he said.
UW-Madison junior Ashley Brown will be working at the inauguration as a presidential intern and said, as an African-American herself, being able to witness Obama's inauguration is ""just going to be phenomenal.""
Brown said the high involvement young people had in Obama's campaign shows the amount of power the younger generation has.
""A lot of people don't realize that a lot of the campaign was organized by many people that were under the age of 35
