New Haven Independent

De’Vonna Gray was sitting, not standing, in the auditorium of Fair Haven School, not the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

But she was saying the same words Barack Obama was uttering up on the auditorium screen as schoolchildren from Fair Haven to Jakarta interrupted their daily routine to watch history being made.

And she was dreaming the same dream.

Afterwards, as her classmates returned to social studies class, De’Vonna reflected on what she’d just heard. “If anybody doubted that America is a place where all these things are possible — I liked that part,” she said. The message she was taking back to Tina Caplan’s class, which just finished a unit on the Constitution: “Yes we can.”

“I was repeating after him” during Tuesday’s swearing in, De’Vonna said. “I had my hand up. I was doing it, too.”

More than parsed position papers on energy or taxation, more than oaths or ceremonial speeches, the significance of the campaign that culminated in Tuesday’s oath of office has been on display at the K-8 Fair Haven School.

The overwhelmingly black and Latino students, many of them immigrants, threw themselves into the election. They watched the debates. They researched the candidates’ campaigns. They lined up to cast ballots in a mock election. The day before the election, they staged a debate in which Ecuadorian-born Edwin Matute, who moved here seven years ago, portrayed Obama with an awe-inspiring depth and delivery. De’Vonna put together a slide show for that event detailing Obama’s and John McCain’s positions.

The kids all got the message: America was electing its first black president. That meant this country is their country, too.

And, as De’Vonna paraphrased Obama’s address Tuesday, “America is a place where anything is possible, and anybody can do what they want.”

De’Vonna, who’s 14 and headed for Sound School next year, wants to become a pediatrician. “I know in four years when I become 18, Obama will have changed America. It will be easier for me” to pursue dreams.

Rudolfo Hernandez (pictured) has a dream, too. The son of Guatemalan immigrants is seeking admission next year to Hopkins School — en route to a career as a lawyer.

“Barack Obama,” he related Tuesday, visibly moved by the ceremony, “went to Harvard Law School. And he ended up becoming president. I was pretty amazed about that.”

Hernandez, who’s 13, considered Obama’s call to national sacrifice the highlight of the address.

“He said that the childish things are over — the economy going bad; we have trouble in Afghanistan.”

“It’s so exciting to see the kids, because of the election, being interested in politics,” said art teacher Vanessa Glenn, pictured watching the inauguration (the first she’s watched live) at Tuesday’s assembly.

“They have a new role model. When before did kids give a hoot about political leaders? It’s so good to see that they get it.”

The students put together a 10-foot high graphite portrait of Martin Luther King in their art classes. The portrait hung beside the screen as Obama and De’Vonna Gray promised to serve their country.