Photo Courtesy of Gretchen MacLean/The Choate News
On Wednesday, January 20, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office during the 59th United States Presidential Inauguration. The School celebrated this historic occurrence with inauguration programming events on Tuesday, January 19 and an Inauguration broadcast on the day of the event.
The BIPOC Community Support Group — co-chaired by Ms. Tanisha Clark and Ms. Kathleen Wallace — planned the inauguration programming. Students were offered a choice of ten sessions for the inauguration programming on Tuesday morning.
Each session aimed to support and educate students about the process of the handoff of presidential power. One session, focused on women in politics, featuring a discussion about Vice President Harris, former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, and Kristen Clarke ’93, who has been nominated as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Another session, led by teachers in the language department, provided a space for participants to analyze and discuss newspaper headlines about the Inauguration.
In addition to Ms. Wallace and Ms. Clark, the faculty members of the BIPOC Community Support Group include Mr. Jim Davidson, Ms. Brooke Fichera, Ms. Kyra Jenney, Dr. Katie Jewett, Ms. Rachel Kesler, Ms. Karen Klein, Mr. Joe Lampe, Ms. Smita Sen, and Ms. Megan Shea.
The School has not traditionally organized programs around Inauguration. Dean of Students Mr. Mike Velez ’00 said that this year’s sessions were arranged largely because “the traditional peaceful transition of power from one president to the next is very much in question.”
The educational workshops also provided a chance for the community to better understand how inaugurations can set the tone for a presidency. “I had the opportunity to use an algorithm to compare the themes of past speeches based on word choices. I noticed the word ‘fight’ often appeared at times of war or unrest. Compared to all other inaugural speeches, the word “fight” was proportionately higher in 2017 than any except two — the speeches at the end of the second world war, and the war of 1812,” said John Reach ’24.
In planning for the events, Ms. Wallace and the BIPOC Community Support Group wanted “to come up with something that is celebratory, informative, and uplifting.” Ms. Wallace said it was valuable to “pause for a small bit of time to celebrate this occasion, which only happens every four years.” This inauguration also marks the introduction of the first woman, and woman of color, to hold the position of Vice President.
While the inauguration programming was not mandatory, the School hopes that those who did not attend the events took a moment to reflect on the presidential transition. Ms. Wallace wanted students to “learn a little bit more about what this event is and what it means to this country — why we pause every four years to hold an inauguration — and I think this is true of every student, no matter their age, no matter their nationality and citizenship.”
