Watching history being made in D.C.

Burbank and Glendale students and city workers were among the hundreds of thousands in Washington for Tuesday’s historic presidential inauguration.

A group of 14 Glendale High School students made the trip with two of their history teachers, as did Burbank youth Tara Bachman and Glendale Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, who said the opportunity of seeing Barack Obama sworn in as the nation’s first black president was too momentous to miss.

“When you think of the significance of this, the first African American president, that can only happen once,” Scoggins said from the Capitol Monday.

The historic experience began in earnest Sunday night with a free concert and a surprise address by the president-elect in front of Lincoln Memorial, Scoggins said.

“It was an amazing moment to hear the roar coming out of that place,” he said of crowds at the National Mall, which some estimates put at 500,000 people.

“And then when [Obama] spoke, you could hear a pin drop during that.”

The group from Glendale High had just exited the American History Museum when they joined the crowds at the mall, which stood shoulder-to-shoulder during freezing weather conditions to see the concert, said teacher John Eldred, one of the group’s chaperons.

The concert, which featured celebrity performances and included a speech from Obama, was an exciting display that brought together people of different ethnic backgrounds, Glendale High senior Ariela Cruz said.

“It was really cool,” Cruz said of seeing Obama speak in person. “He was far away but it was like he was close by.”

For Tara, a junior at Village Christian School in Sun Valley, seeing Obama’s inauguration was special because of his unique ability to galvanize the public, she said.

“It’s one of the rare times that we will have something so different happen with the White House,” Tara, 17, said.

“We will have Barack Obama coming in, and he will definitely try to implement change and hope and other protections for the country.”

Eldred and fellow Glendale High teacher Olivia Macaulay had been planning a trip for the inauguration since excitement about the election heated up during the spring with the possibilities of seeing a woman or an African American as president, they said.

When Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was selected as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, the inauguration festivities were bound to be historic, Eldred said.

“The kids were excited basically as soon as the primaries began, so then I think the opportunity of possibly seeing either one of them sworn in was too good to pass up,” he said.

Although the trip was centered around the inauguration, the students were getting an opportunity to see Washington’s historic sites during a time of significance that would make the experience more relevant, Macaulay said.

“It’s quite different to read about things in books as opposed to actually see them, touch them,” she said of the series of monuments and national museums that the group has visited.

“It makes them a lot more part of your being if you’re actually here.”

The energy in Washington was also unique, she said.

“The air is electric,” Macaulay said. “Everywhere you go, you run into people that are just thrilled that Obama is going to be inaugurated.”

For Scoggins, Glendale’s first black fire chief, the opportunity to be at the inauguration had personal significance.

Scoggins’ father grew up in Texas and was a member of one of the first integrated classrooms, where he was often mistreated and disrespected because of his race, Scoggins said.

“There was many African Americans in the south that went through some of those same experiences, and that’s why this is so significant,” he said.

Scoggins planned to attend the inauguration in his formal fire dress uniform, but purchased a tuxedo in advance of the trip for use at a series of balls that he planned to attend.

 ZAIN SHAUK covers education. He may be reached at (818) 637-3238 or by e-mail at zain.shauk@ latimes.com.