Inauguration trip was thrill of a lifetime

WHEN DEER VALLEY High School Junior Adrian Morris got word that she had been invited to the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference in Washington, D.C., giving her the chance to watch the President's swearing in speech, her foster mother jumped right in working to make it possible for her to attend.
Morris, 16, said that it was really because of Loyce Brewer's efforts that she got to attend the conference at all.
"She's just an amazing woman. She supports everyone to the fullest. All she asks is for us not to give up on our dream," Morris said of the foster mother she calls mom.
Morris has been in Brewer's care for three years. Since she moved in with Brewer, Morris said that wonderful things have been happening to her. When she was in ninth grade, Morris was recommended for the National Youth Leadership State Conference, an organization that teaches leadership activities and public speaking.
Through that organization she was able to attend a conference in Vienna, Budapest and Prague last summer. She also attended a summer camp at Stanford University. Now through the group, she had the chance to attend the presidential inauguration. Each of these activities is available to specific students within the program, but not free of charge. Morris said that Brewer helped to raise money for the trips so she could go.
The trip to Washington, D.C. lasted five days, not only giving the teens the chance to see the inauguration activities, but also allowing students to visit museums, take tours and attend conferences with politicians, media representatives and celebrities. Morris enjoyed the most the ones that featured Desmond Tutu, Al Gore and Eric Windermere.
"It was so amazing all the people we got to hear and see," Morris said.
She admitted that some of the speaker's names may have sounded familiar, but she wasn't sure who all of them were.
"They were all really funny and passionate on what they spoke about. They were talking about topics that we were interested in and that made it all the better."
During her time at the conference, Morris said that there were 7,500 students attending the activities and many were staying at different hotels. Each day they would have the opportunity to get to make new friends that they would probably not see again on the trip.
When President Barrack Obama was sworn in, Morris was sitting three or four blocks away, crowded with many people around her. She was only able to see and hear the festivities on a big-screen television that was placed near them, but it didn't matter to her. She was there getting to experience history close-up, she said.
"It was so nice to be in the atmosphere and be included in what was happening," she said. "Everyone was so nice and helpful."
Morris said that she got a lot out of the experience and was happy she was able to attend.
"I was standing there crying and then turned to watch the crowd and there were others with tears as well," she said. "You never know what is going to happen now. It really just hit home. You never know I may just be the first woman president."
Morris said that she has truly been blessed. Not only with the chance to attend the inauguration, but with all of the people in her life who have been willing to help her achieve so much. She said she would have never believed this was what her life would have ending up being like when she was a little girl and entered the foster care system.
She said now she has so many dreams in her life and the confidence they will come true. That confidence she said has been instilled to her by Brewer, her time working with the leadership group and those who believed in her enough to donate money to help her attend the conference. In the future Morris hopes to attend an Ivy League College like Harvard to become a lawyer.
"To do something to make a difference in this world," she said. "My mom (Brewer) taught me never to settle for average. Thank God for her. My whole life I was looking for a family, looking for a parent to be there for me. Someone supportive. I finally found that, because my mom (Brewer) always gives everyone a chance."