ANDERSON — Thirty-four fifth-graders from Concord Elementary will be on-hand to witness a new president and vice president take the oath of office in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20.

Students, faculty members and parental chaperones involved in the trip for the Anderson school are scheduled to depart Anderson on chartered buses in the early morning of Jan. 18, return late in the evening of Jan. 21 and be back in class Jan. 22.

The trip, approved by Anderson School District 5 officials, was organized through Educational Travel Adventures of New Jersey, and includes excursions to several war memorials, the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, and, time permitting, Ford’s Theatre and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“Our ultimate goal in participating in an event like the inauguration is for the children to witness history in the making. We are excited they will be there to celebrate the culmination of the election process they’ve been learning about in class,” said Anna Mize, a fifth-grade teacher at Concord and the inauguration trip’s organizer.

The inauguration, which will mark the first day in office for President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, has taken place after every presidential election in American history, beginning with George Washington’s inauguration in New York City in 1789.

The first inauguration to take place in Washington, D.C., was that of Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

Concord students who will not be part of the inauguration trip will be visiting the 8,000-acre Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. While there, they will study the life and entrepreneurship of George Vanderbilt, Biltmore’s original owner.

“Both the inauguration group and the Biltmore group will prepare and deliver a report and PowerPoint slide show to each other after the trips,” Mize said.

“I’m proud that Anderson will be well-represented in Washington on such a momentous occasion,” Concord Principal Beryl Barclay said.