5th-grade students watch inauguration ceremony

Published 1:00 pm Saturday, January 21, 2017

Students in a fifth-grade classroom at Sibley Elementary School were reminded of the difference they will be able to make in the election process in the future.

Kelly Nellermoe’s class learned about the election and voting process. Students colored in states as they turned red or blue and were given instruction on the inauguration process.

“And knowing that in our country we have a voice, and as they grow older and they’re eventually citizens who can vote, that they have a voice, too,” Nellermoe said.

Donald Trump's inauguration was projected on a screen Friday morning for student's in Kelly Nellermoe's fifth-grade class at Sibley Elementary School. - Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

Donald Trump’s inauguration was projected on a screen Friday morning for student’s in Kelly Nellermoe’s fifth-grade class at Sibley Elementary School. – Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

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Students in Nellermoe’s class watched the presidential inauguration ceremony Friday and have been receptive to learning about the process, Nellermoe said.

“They’ve been asking really good questions about the process,” she said. “As fifth-graders, they are aware of some of the media and bringing some of those questions back to school and asking why, or have questions of each candidate and what they support and believe.”

Nellermoe plans to continue to educate students about the election process in the future.

“I think it’s important for fifth-graders to learn about the process of president-elect becoming the president,” she said. 

Fifth-grader Keli Flores was excited as she watched the inauguration ceremony.

“We have a new president, and he will be making some changes to America,” she said. “It’s exciting, because we’ve had a president for eight years now … I am just going to wait and see what he does and see how America feels if he’s a good president or if he’s bad or anything like that, because that’s their opinion.”

About Sam Wilmes

Sam Wilmes covers crime, courts and government for the Albert Lea Tribune.

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