With the presidential election right around the corner, Diamond Bar High School history teacher Ty Watkins and French teacher Anthony Tietz have decided to organize a student trip to Washington, DC. They will be taking 15 to 25 DBHS students from Jan. 18 to 22 next year for the presidential inauguration, giving students the chance to watch the swearing-in ceremony from the steps of the Capital on Jan. 20. The trip will be open to students of all grades.

Both Watkins and Tietz decided to host the trip due to the controversy surrounding the presidential candidates, which will  make this election, in their opinion, a significant time in American history.

“Once every four years, [a] new President gets elected or the same President gets re-elected.  Basically, one time in your four years in high school.  This is an important phase of our political system.  As an American History teacher for the past two decades, I have tried to embrace the moment in my classroom, but thought maybe we [would] take a small group and have them experience this great moment,” Watkins explained.

The company that will be hosting the trip is called Worldstrides Educational Student Travel. Although prone to change depending on the number of students attending, the cost would be somewhere around $1800 to $2400.  Even though both Watkins and Tietz would prefer to have less than 25 students attending, many students are showing interest so that number is likely to increase. Currently, the teachers have not set an actual deadline date for the application in hopes of encouraging as many students to join them on this trip.