"The last obstacle to an educational experience should be money," Fallon said. "Our job as educators is not just to get in the classroom and tell them about things but to show them."

Though the private Wildwood School in West Los Angeles is not sponsoring a trip, several students, including Quincy Hunter-Daniel, will attend the inauguration with their families. Quincy, 12, was an Obama campaign volunteer and traveled with his mother to Las Vegas to help canvass votes.

"So much work was done and I did only a small part, but I feel like I helped a little," he said.

Wildwood students Kendall Ferguson, 12, and her brother, Jordan, 13, will join their extended family at the inauguration and expect to attend one of the balls.

Jordan noted that Obama's swearing-in ceremony comes one day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

"It's very special it comes one after the other," he said.

Mariana Benjamin, 14, also from Wildwood, is one of the lucky few who will watch Obama take the oath of office and will attend the inaugural ball as a delegate to the six-day Presidential Youth Leadership Conference.

"I've been reading where they're expecting millions of people, and part of that blows my mind," said Mariana, who has to raise about $2,300 in tuition for the event.

St. James' Episcopal School in Los Angeles is planning an ambitious trip. The school will send nine sixth-graders as student journalists (they are seeking press credentials), who will do blogging and video podcasts on St. James' website, technology teacher Laura Hollis said.

"I feel like [I'll be] at the signing of the Declaration of Independence," said Christopher Han, 11, who is also excited because his birthday is on Inauguration Day.

Jackson Leipzig, 11, said he's already relishing the thought of telling his great-grandchildren about the trip.

"We're going to be right there, and we're going to get more of a sense of being a part of it," Jackson said.

Rivera is a Times staff writer.

carla.rivera@latimes.com