Carson Lolley

On the way to the Smithsonian Museum during a trip to the inauguration, students stop to take a photo in front of the Capitol Building. ”I really enjoyed seeing all of the monuments at the National Mall at night. They were all lit up and it made everything just a lot more powerful and dramatic to see than walking by during the day,” Lolley said.

The inauguration of President Donald Trump went smoothly amidst event security concerns.  Trump’s plan for his first 100 days in office placed a strong emphasis in cleaning up Washington, restoring American jobs and restoring security and the rule of law.

“I am most worried about if we will be going into a war or not, because Trump doesn’t seem like the best, and he can be quick and jump the gun. If you look at past experiences of him, he always seems quick to make a decision, and may retract his decision later on realizing that it was wrong,” freshman Wesley Sells said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force participation rate consistently decreased under former President Barack Obama from 65.9 percent when he took office in 2009 to 62.7 percent by Dec. 2016. The NY Times reported that since Trump was elected, he has added 54,300 jobs by making deals with companies such as Ford, General Motors, Wal-Mart and others.

”I think the transition has been going better than expected. At the end of the day, a job’s a job and I am happy that he has been adding them, more [jobs] than I expected,” Sells said.

Trump will inherit a nearly 20 trillion dollar national debt. According to Fox News, Trump plans on combating this problem by lowering taxes to help with growing the economy.  

“The problem of the national debt is really interesting because Obama said he’d tackle the national debt, but he just kept making it worse,” sophomore Carter Henry said. “The problem is that we’re spending money that we just don’t have; I don’t think it’s really controllable anymore.”

According to data shown by Gallup Polls, the initial job approval ratings of Trump’s show the fact that the political rift in America is larger than ever.

“I’m just hoping that if things change, they change for the better and I hope that the rift in America can be fixed,” junior Daviane Jimenez said.

In his inauguration speech, according to the Washington Post, Trump voiced his hopes that the day would mark a day where the titles of Republican and Democrat will be cast aside as we are all Americans.

“I look forward to people butting their heads together and talking about politics again to find solutions. A lot of the problems have been elephants in the room and we haven’t addressed them until now,” Henry said.