Seven high school students from the small Aroostook County town of Van Buren are getting the chance of a lifetime this week as they lead a contingent of Maine residents headed to Washington, D.C., for President Bush’s inauguration.

Van Buren High School history and civics teacher Mike Bresett, 51 – along with his wife and two other parents – will chaperone the students during their two-day stay in the nation’s capital.

“These kids have never had the chance to do anything like this before and they may never get the chance again,” Bresett said.

The president’s inaugural committee would not release names of invitees to specific events for security reasons, but Bresett confirmed that he and his students are among the lucky.

“Some of [the students] are rather nervous; some of them have never been that far away or haven’t been on a plane before,” Bresett said. “But I think it might be a nervous excitement.”

He said U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins helped him set up the trip and they have invited the students to a preinaugural brunch they are putting on for Mainers on Thursday morning. The high-schoolers will tour the city today and be on hand to watch the inauguration after the brunch on Thursday. They plan to return Friday.

Bresett said his Van Buren students raised nearly $10,000 over the past year to pay for this experience. Individual donations were bolstered by contributions from the school and town, said Bresset, who also sits on the Town Council.

“The trip was open to anyone that wanted to go through the fund-raising process and these kids worked hard; they raised a lot of money,” Bresett said.

“Now more students wish they had gotten involved,” he added.

Nine members of the Maine College Republicans also were scheduled to head for Washington, D.C., today, a reward for many long hours of hard work during President Bush’s re-election campaign, the group’s chairman, Dan Schuberth, said.

“Our group has been working so hard, but the greatest celebration for us will be seeing the president get sworn in,” said Schuberth, 20, a native of New Jersey and a junior at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

The College Republicans arrived earlier this week and attended a youth concert organized by Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara. They will also participate in the Maine brunch and several other events Thursday, including an inaugural ball.

Schuberth said his group of Maine College Republicans plan to come back “when the partying is over.”

But not everyone from Maine headed to Washington is doing so to support the president. A group of Mainers taking part in a Counter-Inaugural Anti-War Protest will leave this evening from Portland in two 50-passenger buses.

Sandy Yakovenko of Tenants Harbor, who organized the midcoast bus trip that included pickups in Rockland, Nobleboro and Brunswick, said Tuesday evening that only two seats were remaining on her bus.

It was not known how many tickets had been sold on the second bus, which will run from Bangor to Portland and then on to Washington.