Published: January 13, 2009 05:53 pm      

INAUGURATION: NFHS grad to make trip

Mother helps daughter see first black president take office

On Friday, 5,000 tickets for the historical inauguration of Barack Obama sold out in less than one minute. Sen. Charles Schumer has been holding lotteries to give away about 300 inauguration tickets. And roughly 3 million more people are hoping to attend.

But Sadè Peterson of Niagara Falls doesn’t have to worry. She’ll be there.

It certainly wasn’t something she’d ever anticipated. After attending a program with the National Youth Leadership Forum as a sophomore, the Niagara Falls High School graduate kept getting letters and invitations for various events in the mail. One of them happened to be for the 2009 presidential inauguration.

“It was very unexpected,” she said. “I told my mother, but I didn’t really tell anybody at all because I don’t like to make a deal out of things.”

But that meant she had to raise the necessary $3,000 to attend on her own. Sadè eventually told the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Mentorship Program, where she had volunteered, and they offered to pay half of the cost.

The rest was covered by her mom, Shirley. About $1,500 later, her mother has no regrets.

“I’m 51. I never in my life thought that I would see a black man be president,” she said. “I remember what my mom told me about living in the south and I’m not too far from that. I know what my mom went through and it just amazed me that this happened.”

But when Sadè had to sign up in September, it was unclear whether Obama or Republican John McCain would win the presidency.

Sadè admits she had favored Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee, but said the idea of being part of the inauguration was exciting for her regardless of who won.

“I was excited about (Obama being the first black president), but either way, going to something like that is an honor. It’s not like if Barack didn’t win I’d say, ‘Forget the money’ and not go,” she said with a laugh. “I knew one of them would win and I’m open minded.”

The NFHS honors graduate had to cut her winter break a little early to return to Syracuse University and prepare to miss classes during the inauguration. Sadè is studying biomedical engineering with hopes to be a neurosurgeon.

Her mom said she always had high hopes for her daughter, but with Obama’s presidency, anything is possible.

“I have an amazing daughter. I always knew she’s going to be a doctor when she kept saying, ‘I’m going be a doctor,’” Shirley said. “I think the only thing that shocked me is, we can always be anything we want to be as along as we work, but I knew in the back of my mind there’s a glass ceiling. Once (Obama) became president, there’s no limit to anyone’s dreams no more.”