Ana Claire and Sara Camille Casas attended the presidential inauguration this past week in Washington, D.C.

Ana, an 8th-grade student at Moreno Middle School, has been a member of Jr. National Youth Leadership Council since 2008 and a student at First Baptist Church School. She was nominated that year by her 4th-grade teacher, Carolyn Puckett. Since then, she has visited Washington, D.C., and is no stranger to the White House and President Obama. She spent a week in 2010 at a Jr. NYLC in Washington and was a guest in the White House and had the privilege to met President Obama. This year, she attended the Jr. NYLC Middle School Inaugural Conference. The students attended meetings and were among the millions of people standing in front of the Capitol to see the president take his oath for another term.

Miss Casas said, “It was amazing to have the privilege to witness a president of the United States take his oath. It was freezing cold but worth every minute. This is part of history; it will be written in books, and I was there to see it happen.”

While on this trip, she also attended meetings and workshops with other students from across the globe. Guest speakers for one of the events were the former President Bush’s daughters, Jenna and Barbara. Miss Casas also attended a special inaugural ball held at National Harbor.

Sara Camille Casas, a sophomore student at A.C. Jones High School, also attended the inauguration; she also represented Texas as a member of Texas Lone Star Youth Leadership Council, with whom she has been a member since 2008 as a 6th-grader at Moreno Middle School. She was nominated by Joan Chesshir. Miss Casas was overwhelmed with all the activities in D.C.

“Words cannot describe the feeling you have when you are standing among all the millions of people watching. It is truly amazing, and I am proud to be an American in this wonderful world we live in,” she said. “I met people from all over the world who came to the U.S., and they kept telling me how lucky we are to live here. It is part of history, and I am glad I had the opportunity to see it live.”

While in D.C., the older of the Casas girls also went back again to visit Georgetown University. She said, “This just might be home for me for in the fall of 2015; we will just have to wait and see.”