SAN ANTONIO – Students at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy and the Fox Tech law magnet school watched as history was made with the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Not only just as a person of color, but as a female, she’s changing the odds,” said Jordan Strait, a YWLA junior.
“It gives us hope, especially during times like this, when we really need that,” said Shreya Dheehan, a YWLA senior.
Thomas Gomez, a sophomore at the Fox Tech Law Magnet School, agrees.
“You can really do anything nowadays. Doesn’t matter your gender, your race, anything you could get anything done,” he said.
At the law magnet school, students had their American flags at the ready after Lady Gaga’s powerful rendition of the National Anthem.
Jennifer Casanova, their teacher, said Lady Gaga got the quite a reaction from her students.
Still seeing President Joe Biden and especially Vice President Harris take their oaths of office, were emotional moments.
“There was silence in the room. There was cheers. There was some tears,” Casanova said.
For Dheehan, who is of South Asian heritage like Harris, seeing her sworn in was “empowering and inspiring to see someone who looks like you” a heartbeat away from the presidency.
But she also said, “As important as it is to celebrate her, it is also important to recognize that nothing has changed.”
Dheehan said racism and gender inequality are just some of the critical issues still facing the nation.
Even so, Gomez said, he believes his generation is ready to help answer Biden’s call for unity.
“I think my generation’s up to it, most definitely,” Gomez said.
“Changing the norm meant so much to me. It only empowered me to continue to keep going,” Strait said.
