Caleb Duncan was probably the only person wearing a shirt and tie to wait in line overnight to get tickets to President Obama's scheduled Thursday visit to Syracuse.
"I’m thinking about getting a new suit," he said with laugh. He lined for tickets around 10:30 p.m. Monday.
Duncan will soon be a senior at Henninger, the place where Obama will talk about making higher education more affordable. He’s also the founding president of Henninger Students United and has political aspirations of his own. He already sounds like one.
"These are times where we kind of need that extra moral boost, I guess. And I’m hoping that the citizens of Syracuse will take this as a message to improve our city and become a stronger community as a whole," he waxes poetically about the upcoming presidential address.
The teen says he’s been “freaking out” ever since he found out Obama was coming to his school. He admits that if he got a chance to meet the president he'd be too nervous to get much more than a handshake in, but his message:
"Just keep an open dialogue. Be receptive to the needs of students and evolve with the changing educational climates within the country."
Duncan plans on going to college to study anthropology and political science. He hopes the president's message inspires his classmates to follow.
"I’m hoping that it sends a message to others in the community to pursue a higher education as well," he said.
Obama will also speak in Buffalo, Binghamton and Scranton, Pa. as part of a two day bus tour. All the tickets to see his Syracuse visit were given out Tuesday.
