HERMON – The week of Jan. 19-23 proved to be a fun time for one young Mainer.

High school student Linda McLaughlin of Hermon attended the presidential inauguration in Washington through the People to People Presidential Inauguration, an educational program in the district.

“This past trip was my third time in Washington, D.C.,” said McLaughlin, who will be 15 in April and is a ninth-grader at Hermon High School.

Her first time in Washington was with her family. The second trip happened last year as an eighth-grader for the People to People World Leadership Forum, which McLaughlin described as a groundbreaking trip.

The trip was seven days and more than 250 young people participated. Then the trip in January came along. And while other students from Maine have participated in the People to People program at other times, McLaughlin was the only student from Maine on both trips, she said.

Six hundred young people took part in the January event, McLaughlin said. She was one of 400 students who stayed at a Double Tree Hotel in Virginia. The bus ride from the airport to the hotel turned out to be a four-and-a-half hour drive due to a snowstorm. She and some other students decided to introduce themselves to others on the bus so that all could become acquainted and help pass the time.

The students were up early on Thursday, Jan. 20, and taken by bus to the inauguration. McLaughlin and some of the others stood where they were able to see everything really well – except for the president, who was hidden from their view by a large statue, she said. Fortunately, there were large screens in the area that captured the president as he gave his speech. The day was cold and the students stood outside for six to seven hours.

“There was no wind, thankfully,” McLaughlin said.

The evening included an inaugural ball held at the Hyatt Hotel in Crystal City. The hotel had large chandeliers, balloons up above, flowers everywhere, and glass elevators with gold trim and lights, McLaughlin said.

“I wish I’d taken more pictures,” she said.

Shuttles made trips every half-hour to take the young people back to their own hotels when they were ready. McLaughlin participated in the dancing and left the ball around 10:30 p.m.

“The band was really nice,” she said.

On Friday, the students went to the Kennedy Center.

“There were tons of chandeliers and tons of lights,” McLaughlin said, adding that many chandeliers were donated from different countries when the center opened. Students were told that each light on the ceiling weighed a ton, and reassured that they were well-secured.

Saturday held a trip to the University of Virginia as part of Thomas Jefferson Day. Jefferson built one section of the school with $60,000, but ended up $100,000 in debt, “which equals $2 million today,” McLaughlin said. She loved her visit to the school, one of her four choices to attend when she is ready for college. And McLaughlin thinks often of going to college.

“I want to be a teacher when I grow up,” she said. She is considering majoring in English.

“I love to read and write,” she said.

The daughter of Timothy and Theresa McLaughlin of Hermon and the third of four children, the slim, outgoing, personable and well-spoken 14 year-old has a lot of interests and activities she pursues. She loves sports, which she took part in during seventh and eighth grades, the outdoors and “I love camping with a passion,” she said. Her dad is an avid golfer and the family has gone on many camping trips in connection with his games.

A busy high school schedule does not afford McLaughlin time to continue sports. But she is the layout editor for Hermon High School’s yearbook, plays clarinet in the band, does volunteer work at the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor on Saturdays, attends youth group at Hermon Baptist Church Sunday nights and often attends St. Mary’s Church in Bangor on Sunday mornings.

In addition to all those activities McLaughlin also may help the librarian at Hermon High to start an American Sign Language Club. McLaughlin’s dad and mom, both of whom she described as having been “straight-A students,” are Deaf and hard of hearing, respectively. She learned ASL from them from birth and is fluent in the language.

The People to People Presidential Inauguration is coordinated by People to People Student Ambassador Programs, based in Spokane, Wash., in fulfillment of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vision for fostering world citizenship. Eisenhower established the organization in 1956.