Long before America chose Barack Obama over John McCain, Jessica Gottsleben, a junior at Coral Glades High School, knew she was going to attend the presidential inauguration.
Gottsleben was among the few youth congressional presidential scholars from Broward County invited to view the inauguration and the parade. She also participated in the presidential ball and met political dignitaries like Colin Powell, Al Gore, and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu.
“I got the news that I would be attending the presidential inauguration 18 months ago,” Gottsleben said, a few days before she left for five busy days in Washington D.C. “My friends freaked out when I told them. The teachers were ecstatic too when they heard of it. The whole school was kind of discussing it.”
Gottsleben, who is president of the Spanish Honor Society and a member of the National Honor Society, has represented the United States at the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, and the global leadership summit. She is also a Mu Alpha Theta officer and a member of the Science Honor Society.
Gottsleben, who spent two weeks last summer in Washington D.C. and New York with students from 100 countries around the world, enjoys politics. “It is definitely something that I am looking into. I think I have what it needs to do a good job.”
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PHOTO: Jessica Gottsleben, a junior at Coral Glades High School, was chosen to attend the presidential inauguration in Washington D.C.
Submitted photo
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