Desai

Gitlin

When Barack Obama is inaugurated U.S. president Jan. 21, the celebration will be Big Red, white and blue. Cornell students and young alumni in Washington, D.C., are helping prepare a whirlwind of inauguration celebrations and parades.

They're working with the Presidential Inaugural Committee to organize such events as a day of service, a concert for military children and families, the official and ceremonial swearing-in ceremonies, inaugural parade, the Commander in Chief's Ball, the Inaugural Ball and national prayer service, and a slew of other events.

Roneal Desai '13, an ILR major and vice president of finance for Cornell's Student Assembly (SA), is working on the committee's compliance team, which verifies that all activities comply with the Obama administration's mission, goals and policies. "Because I am a strong supporter of President Obama and many of his policies, I thought that this would be a great opportunity for me to gain a new experience while simultaneously helping out a political figure that I support," he said.

Desai is no stranger to Washington. He spent one summer doing economic policy research at the Center for American Progress and another at the Federal Reserve Board as special assistant to the chief of staff and as a research analyst in the Office of Financial Stability.

The biggest inaugural challenge has been to go to work every day while his fellow students are still vacationing, Desai said. But the experience has reminded him of how many people are working behind the scenes for every event, he said. "It puts things into perspective and enhances your sense of patriotism, knowing so many people are willing to serve their country in this way," he said.

One of those people is SA President Adam Gitlin '13, an ILR major who helped prep Obama's first inauguration. After Gitlin graduated high school, he took a gap year with Obama's first presidential campaign in Chicago at campaign headquarters working in constituency outreach. After Obama was elected, Gitlin interned with the Presidential Inaugural Committee in 2009, where he worked on veterans and military families outreach. Last summer he interned in the 2012 campaign's Operation Vote, which aimed to expand support from ethnic minority groups and other traditional Democratic voters.

Gitlin sees parallels between his participation in the inauguration preparations and his role as SA president, he said. "I have the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of student organizations on campus representing every community. This is similar to the work of the inaugural committee, where we partner with Americans from around the country," he said.

George Hornedo '13 spent two weeks helping recruit more than 3,000 volunteers for the inaugural parade. Most recently he has been working on business outreach, collaborating with committee members and White House staff to coordinate a successful inauguration weekend for more than 300 CEOs. "It's just an honor to be here and have a small part in something bigger than myself," he said.

Others participating are Alex Frieden '11 and former SA President Natalie Raps '12.