Brothers Eric and Christian Bush joined Evan Wright for the 608-mile trek to the nation’s capital Jan. 20 to witness the peaceful transition of power first hand, while fellow McConnell Scholar Celia Cusick was one of the millions of women to protest at the Women’s March the next day. Despite their opposing political views, all agreed that witnessing – and taking part in such a historical event – was an experience they’ll never forget.

“It was a pretty surreal moment, seeing so many important political leaders – past presidents and congressional leaders – coming onto that stage,” Eric Bush said. “Watching these people, who have said some pretty nasty things about each other during the campaign, come together to watch the peaceful transition of power – which is a uniquely American experience – was very impactful.”

For Cusick, taking part in the Women’s March was an equally-powerful experience.

“It was empowering for me to be there because, it was about standing up for not only who I am as a person but for those who can’t stand up for themselves,” Cusick said. “This was me putting my words into action and telling the public and the president that his words and actions reflect all of us and they’re not OK.”

For Wright, the inauguration was a family affair, attending both the inauguration and the Freedom Ball later that night with his father.

“We decided we wanted to go because we wanted to be a part of this historic moment,” Wright said. “You see it on TV, but it’s not really real until you see it in person. It really was one of the best days of my life.”

The McConnell Scholars were interviewed last week on UofL Today with Mark Hebert about their experiences in Washington, DC. .��

“I was surprised,” McConnell said. “I, like everybody else, was watching all the polls and, not always, but usually the polls were right. This was an election between the status quo and change. You sort of filter out the personalities and the charges and countercharges and what you come up with in looking at this election is: are you satisfied where you are or do you want to go in a different direction?”

McConnell and his staff also met with the president-elect when Trump visited Washington, D.C. on Thursday to discuss issues and priorities facing the new administration.

“We talked about the Supreme Court and Obamacare – and our desire to change that moving forward,” McConnell said. “The discussion reflected the issues that he and a lot of us talked about during the election. The American people expect us to pursue the agenda that we talked about and that’s what we intend to do.”