The staff of the Eagle Times is less than a week away from the biggest story the student newspaper has ever covered – the inauguration of the nation’s 44th president.

If Bonny Eagle High School junior Bobby Michaud is any indication, the young journalists couldn’t be more excited.

“When I’m there, I’m taking notes on everything,” said Michaud, an Eagle Times writer and graphic designer. “It’s going to be very cool.”

Michaud and 10 other Bonny Eagle students will be in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, when more than a million people are expected to view the inauguration of President Barak Obama from the National Mall between 4th Street and the Lincoln Memorial, in addition to 240,000 ticketed guests and hundreds of thousands of others who plan to watch the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Using laptop computers, the Bonny Eagle journalists will file stories that will be posted on their blog, www.etwashdc.blogspot.com.

English teacher Joanne Lannin, faculty adviser for the school newspaper, discussed story ideas with students this week in a staff meeting. Lannin, a former Portland Press Herald reporter, said covering a historic event first-hand is any journalist’s dream.

“It’s history in the making,” agreed Steven Murphy, a Bonny Eagle sophomore who is a staff writer.

Lannin, who has taught at Bonny Eagle for six years, said they will fly Sunday to Baltimore, Md., and take a bus to the hotel in Springfield, Va., 12 miles from Washington, D.C. They’ll be among thousands of students sponsored by Smithsonian Student Travel. Lannin this week handed each of her 11 journalists a Smithsonian backpack, ID, note pad and a bookmark. The backpacks won’t be allowed in the public viewing area at the oath of office ceremony.

The Bonny Eagle journalists will attend a ball the night before the inauguration. The ball is a free event just for students.

Tuesday, the group will arrive early for the swearing-in ceremony at 11:30 a.m. outside at the U.S. Capitol. “We’ll be going through security like everybody else,” Lannin said. “We expect to stand in security lines for a couple of hours.”

Their itinerary will include a stop at the Arlington National Cemetery, where the great-grandfather of Murphy is buried near the grave of John F. Kennedy. Murphy’s great-grandfather served in World War II as a brigadier general and led a battle on Kwajalein Island in the South Pacific.

The student journalists also will tour the offices of U.S. News and World Report, where a friend of Lannin’s is a reporter. Also, they will meet with two Bonny Eagle graduates – one a freelance writer and the other working on the inaugural parade.

The inauguration is expected to attract celebrities, and Stephanie Lombardo, a senior, is hoping one in particular shows up.

“I want to meet Oprah Winfrey,” she said.

The cost of the trip for each student is $1,000. School Administrative District 6 contributed $200 per student to support the students’ fundraising efforts, which included a letter-writing campaign to congressional candidates. The campaign of new 1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree responded and contributed $1,000.

This week, Lannin was contacting congressional offices, hoping for interviews with Pingree and Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Enthusiasm is running high as their departure draws near. Lannin’s classroom has an Obama calendar hanging over a chalkboard.

Eagle Times sports editor Eliot Douin will be donning his Obama T-shirt for the inauguration. He said the T-shirt reads “1/20/09, End of an Era, The Road to Change.”

“My aunt gave it to me for Christmas,” Douin said. “I’ve been an Obama fan since last summer.”

A CLOSER LOOK

Read the inauguration stories filed by the Eagle Times journalists on their blog, www.etwashdc.blogspot.com. A link to the site is also posted on keepmecurrent.com.

Student journalists prep for ‘dream’ assignment