GW to Join Inaugural Parade for First Time in 60 Years

By Julia Parmley

Military processionals, marching bands, and even performing horses will parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day—and so will GW. The Presidential Inauguration Committee selected GW’s float design from more than 1,300 applications to join the Jan. 20 parade, the first for GW since former Hatchet editor Pete Simmons designed the University’s float for President Harry S. Truman’s 1949 inauguration. (See back page for a photo of the float.) Only institutions chartered by Congress can enter floats in the parade, which makes GW and American University the only eligible universities in the nation.

“GW’s entry into the 56th Inaugural Parade is a truly historic and momentous event,” says Tim Miller, executive director of the Student Activities Center. “I believe the students, faculty, and staff involved in this project will make GW proud, and their efforts will be an important aspect of the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama.

In the congratulatory letter sent to Student Association President Vishal Aswani, Inaugural Parade Committee members said GW’s talent and enthusiasm played a key role in their decision.

“When Vishal and I found out that the float was accepted, we started screaming,” says GW senior Charlie Burgoyne, Student Association executive director of programming and activities. “The acceptance really means the world to us.”

Burgoyne says the 70-foot-long float will incorporate elements representing each of the University’s nine schools. Some of the float’s more elaborate features include a rotating, giant inflatable globe symbolizing the Elliott School of International Affairs; a student-built, mini off-road Baja vehicle for the School of Engineering and Applied Science; and a running, real-time stock ticker for the School of Business. A bust of President-elect Barack Obama will be projected on monitors visible to spectators on either side on the parade route.

Approximately 55 GW students, a high school student accepted to next year’s freshman class, University mascot George, and Simmons, who designed GW’s 1949 float, will ride on the float in the parade, says Burgoyne. The float will span two trailers and be pulled by a rented trolley.

The more than 30 students, faculty, and staff involved in the project will have a short winter break before returning to GW Jan. 5 to begin construction and detail work on the float, currently located in the basement of the Academic Center. Burgoyne says GW Professors Stephen Pothier and Roger Cortesi of GW’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Ceramics Turker Ozdogan have been instrumental in the drafting and construction of the float.

Miller says the float design and construction are enabling GW students to put their classroom skills into action. “This project has also become a laboratory where our students can apply the knowledge they have gained in the classroom in the areas of engineering, art, business, political science, management, and many more,” says Miller.

Burgoyne says the goal is to complete the float by Jan. 14 and take it out for a trial run before the parade. Parade participants will have to report at 3 a.m. on Inauguration Day to begin the security check before the parade begins at 2 p.m. After the event, Burgoyne hopes to place the float in Kogan Plaza for a few days for the GW community.

“I cannot wait until we have the float on display for GW,” he says. “We’ve wanted for a long time to show how involved the students are in the city and with each other, and this float represents our commitment. It has already raised school spirit, and I cannot describe how exciting the experience will be for GW.”

For more information, visit http://sites.google.com/site/gwpresidentialinauguralfloat.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu