Some students on the Pine and Octavia campus were given the opportunity to watch the Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States this morning. Donald J. Trump was sworn in at around 9 AM PST which gave some teachers the opportunity to stream the event in their first period classes.

“We watched the inauguration during English class with Mr. [Kevin] Downs,” Michael Metz ’20 said. “Personally, I am a fan of Trump, so it was interesting to watch him speak and see how he will lead our country. The speech seemed pretty general, but stayed true to his ideas throughout his campaign. It was a good speech overall.”

Some teachers felt compelled to stream the event.

“As an ethics teacher I felt obligated to give students the opportunity regardless of political background to view the inauguration,” Michael Campos said. “It would feel irresponsible not too.”

Some students enjoyed the opportunity to view the historic moment.

“I felt that speech was very inspirational and look forward to his presidency,” Jack Pirrone ‘20 said. “I enjoyed learning about the new direction our country is headed in under Trump.”

Some community members found the speech to be unusual and unorthodox; taking a different approach to an inauguration speech than previous speakers.

“It sounded like a campaign speech to his political base,” math teacher Lindsay MacGarva said. “I am not sure how unifying it was if you did not agree with his message.”