By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
1-17-2009

One lucky Big Pine girl has been invited to go to the Presidential Inauguration on Tuesday.
Mary Rossi, an eighth-grader at Big Pine Elementary, received the invitation to witness the swearing in of the 44th U.S. president from the organization People to People. And, she is reportedly the only student in the Owens Valley to be invited by the organization.
Rossi said Thursday, the day before leaving for the nation’s capitol, “I’m very nervous – mostly because I have to fly alone.”
This is not Rossi’s first invitation from People to People, since being nominated to be an ambassador by her fifth-grade teacher, Marvalyn Kothman.
Rossi said that she attended the World Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. two years ago and went to the 2008 Presidential Primaries in California in February. It was Rossi’s veteran ambassador status that made her eligible for this special event.

Mary Rossi

Rossi said she’s always been interested in politics, influenced by her father, Duane Rossi. Mary’s mother, Marie Rossi, said that Mary has always been “very politically minded; during the last election she’d hold debates in the cafeteria with her friends at lunch.”
Kothman said Friday that she nominated Rossi for similar reasons. “She’s an outstanding student, straight As and a natural-born leader who has always been very interested in politics.”
Rossi said that while she was “less than enthusiastic” about the people’s choice for president-elect, she was still excited to go, calling it, “History in the making.”
She said she got the invitation in April or May, “way before anyone knew who the president was going to be.”
Marie added that while Obama was not Mary’s choice, she’ll go because, “She puts America first.”
Marie said Thursday that People to People has sent Mary many invitations to various other events and destinations, such as England, but  Marie said she thought international travel is best suited for a high schooler.
People to People, founded in 1956 by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is an ambassador program that offers educational travel opportunities mostly for students in grades 5-12, but also for educators and professionals focusing on leadership, international affairs and an annual sporting event held in Austria.
People to People ambassadors are first nominated and then an application process is done by the nominee. If accepted, the ambassador is periodically invited to any of the seven continents where People to People serve to bring together American students with different cultures as a learning experience for both.
According to People to People’s  Web site, when founding the organization, Eisenhower was acting on his firm belief that direct interaction between ordinary citizens around the world can promote cultural understanding and world peace.
“I have long believed, as have many before me, that peaceful relations between nations require mutual respect between individuals,” Eisenhower said.
Rossi will join 2,000 fellow ambassadors from around the country and internationally in Washington for six days of fun, including a tour of the city and a visit to Mount Vernon and Monticello, according to Joel Hoadley, People to People’s senior director of admissions.
The People to People ambassadors will be on site for the Inauguration along with the other 400,000 expected attendees, but Rossi said she probably won’t have a chance to meet Barack Obama in person. Afterward Rossi said she will attend a special People to People Inaugural Ball, not the ball attended by the president, but there will be some dignitaries at the People to People event. Rossi said she’ll get the opportunity to meet Mary Eisenhower, People to People’s CEO and the granddaughter of the organization’s founder at the ball, as well as Ken Walsh of U.S. News and World Report.
Rossi added that her pare