CAPE YOUTH WILL WITNESS PRESIDENT'S SWEARING-IN

A Cape Girardeau Central High School junior will witness the inauguration of President-elect Bill Clinton on Jan. 20 as an added bonus to a Washington Workshops seminar.

"I'm pretty excited about it," said William Lon Ogborn. "It's going to be the fourth or fifth time I've been to Washington, D.C., but I've never seen a president inaugurated."

Ogborn is participating in a six-day seminar sponsored by the Washington Workshops Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan, private organization that offers guided tours and private interviews with government officials and legislators to public and private high-school students across the country.

"This is a program designed to help students learn about their government and legislators by interacting with them and watching them work," said Tom Burkley, spokesman for the Washington Workshops Foundation.

The workshop, now in its 25th year, provides an annual series of programs that costs about $600, which covers hotel and accommodations during the students' weeklong stays. Some students absorb the entire cost of the seminar, but others are partially or wholly subsidized by local businesses or fraternal organizations.

As they arrive, students will choose a committee upon which to serve in mock Congress seminars during their stay.

Each committee will address a certain issue within the realm of their interest groups, write a bill and bring it before the mock Congress on the last day of the seminar.

"What you get is a group of students from different areas in the country who all have different interests and concerns, working together to produce a bill they all can agree upon," Burkley said. "It really gives the students a feel for how hard it is for their legislators to do the same thing; it teaches them how to compromise."

During their stay, students will have on-site meetings with top government officials and legislators, daily briefings on Capitol Hill and the Washington, D.C., area, and visits from guest speakers such as ambassadors, members of the National Press Corps and political commentators.

During the meetings, students will be able to ask questions relative to their committee's area of interest and get top officials' opinions on matters.

In the evenings, the students work on setting up and rehearsing a mock Congress, which culminates in a final session held in a committee room on Capitol Hill. During the session the students will debate the bills and vote on issues of critical concern to America's youth.

"I really want to sit and watch how Congress works," Ogborn said. "That kind of thing really fascinates me."

Ogborn's seminar is unique in that the students will be eyewitnesses to the events on the day of inauguration.

The students will have reserved seating for the gala presidential inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and will attend the swearing-in ceremonies on Capitol Hill.

To end the day, the students will attend an invitation-only inaugural youth ball, where students from across the country will welcome the president and vice president to office. Clinton and vice president-elect Al Gore are expected to make an appearance at the youth ball.

Ogborn found out about the program through a packet he sent away for in his social studies class. "It sounded like a good program, so I sent in my application," he said.

If he brings back photos and makes a class presentation, Ogborn will receive extra credit in his contemporary issues class.

Ogborn said he hopes to go to the University of Southern California after graduation to study political science and perhaps criminology or cinematography.

"My sister goes there," Ogborn said. "And I really like Los Angeles."