Residents giddy about first lady's visit to UC Merced

[babylonsister]

Aww, she is loved!


http://www.mercedsunstar.com/220/story/817360.html

Residents giddy about first lady's visit to UC Merced
By SCOTT JASON
[e-mail]


Shanitha Scoggins, owner of Tuluz' Beauty Salon downtown, is on the list of people looking to snag tickets to UC Merced's graduation ceremony, when first lady Michelle Obama will deliver the commencement address.

If it doesn't happen, she'll stand in the sun on the side of Lake Road just to listen and catch a glimpse of the excitement.

Josephine Long, an 89-year-old Fresno resident, said UC Merced leaders would hear from her "big mouth" if she isn't absorbing first-hand every word of Obama's oratory. (Long was promised two tickets over the phone just after the speaker was announced.)

snip//

Including media, security, honorary guests and commencement volunteers, the university expects to host up to 11,000 people, she said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein confirmed that she'd attend. The school hasn't yet heard back from Sen. Barbara Boxer or Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The city estimates up to 25,000 people will visit Merced for the ceremony.

Scoggins was styling a customer's hair Tuesday and watched through her salon window as city workers tested out the 20-foot-by-20-foot projection screen that will broadcast Obama's speech downtown in Bob Hart Square.

One of Scoggins' regular customers at her salon signed her up for a ticket. "She was thinking about me," she said. "I love her."

Long, who's spent her life working for the Fresno Police Department and later Fresno County's Department of Social Services, is counting on receiving two tickets. The extra one will go to whichever friend is willing to drive.

"I won't have this opportunity again," the self-described 89-and-three-quarter-year-old said.

She called the chancellor's office soon after she heard that Obama accepted the offer made by the students, who sent nearly a thousand Valentine's Day cards. "Little Merced? And she said yes she would come," Long said. "That impressed me."

Residents, whether in the audience, downtown or home, will soon watch a foreclosure capital in one of the nation's most overlooked regions showcased to a worldwide audience.

Politicians paying attention to the Valley? Maybe that's called change.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It's a new campus that will benefit from the publicity!

I'm so pleased Michelle is coming out for this commencement!

I'm not sure, but this might be their first graduating class...

[babylonsister]

3. You're right, Peggy...

UC Merced officials are saddled with turning a small graduation ceremony that marks an historic moment in the school's young existance -- the first four-year graduation class -- into a White House affair covered by international media.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. How cool!

I'm sure this is a burden that those good people will gladly take on!

It'll be historic!

:fistbump:

[ClarkUSA]

2. The Obamas care about the least among us. This hard-hit community will get a boost in morale...

and an influx of $$$ from the stimulus plan as well as short-term monies from all the folks flooding the area to see
Michelle will provide another boost to the area.