I've been a journalist for roughly eight years now and I somehow ended up with a ticket to cover not only a presidential inauguration, but a historic one.

The staff over at the Bonny Eagle High School Eagle Times have me beat by at least a decade.

You may have caught the news update from yesterday on the students' trip to the Newseum, but that really only tells part of their story.

The students had been documenting their trip to DC on their Inauguration Blog, from getting into town, and the highs of inauguration day.

(Not only did they witness and document the inauguration, they also managed to snag an interview with Gov. John Baldacci. Turns out the Guv was on the same flight into DC they were, and being the resourceful journalists that they are, they cornered him for an interview.)

Wednesday's trip to the Newseum seemed like a good chance to catch up with them and hear their thoughts on being at the inauguration and what it was like to cover it.

But it was also a chance to see what they thought about journalism's past, and its future.

The verdict? So-so.

Junior Bobby Michaud, who is responsible for the graphics and design of the paper, said he was fascinated by the museum.

"It's interesting to see how all the different ways journalism works, and how everyone has a way of getting news to people and how it's important to make a society civil," said Michaud.

Eliot Douin, a junior, and sports editor of the Times, said he loves writing about sports and has gotten into writing about politics because of Obama.
But he said transformation that is taking place in journalism because of the Internet is going to change things.

"It'll be an unpaid job, because civilians are posting the news. There are some good writers who are doing it for free online," he said. "So why pay a good writer if you can get it for free?

Shannon Jacobson, a senior and editor-in-chief of the Times said she loves journalism and wants to write for her college newspaper.

But she's not going to make it a career. "I actually want to eventually be a Supreme Court justice," she said.

"So you don't see a future in journalism," I said.
"No. But I do love it," she said.

Of course, little did I know I would not just do interviews, but get interviewed myself as the students had a few questions for me about my job and how I covered the inauguration. I'm sure you'll be able to find that on their blog soon enough.

In the meantime, here's a quick slide show of our morning at the Newseum.

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