Imagine the huge shock and surprise when I had when one of my mentors at Goshen College sends me a message asking if I would like to take part in a town hall meeting with President Obama. First of all, let me start out by saying that I am a huge fan of the President, and I always wanted to see him in person. Then I was told that I might get to ask him a question? Woah.

Honestly, I was so overwhelmed with this amazing opportunity. Before anything, I had to fill out some information for the secret service, along with my question. My question had to do with the recent deportations that had been going on in the past 6 months. I was wondering about what the process was and how these decisions are made. The president had always been an advocate for immigrants, and I felt that this needed to be cleared up.

So after I turned that in, I was asked to meet with some of the people from the PBS, and they asked me questions about my life, political views, etc. They seemed to like my question, so I had my fingers crossed.

I was anxious all weekend, and I was checking my email to see if they cleared me or not. I finally got the email on Tuesday that I was cleared, and I was so excited and also really nervous. It's not every day that you get to be in the same room as Obama.

I was apart of a group of Latinx leaders and students who were able to be there. People who were quite involved in the community that I admire greatly.

So when I arrived, I did not feel so overwhelmed or nervous. It was really starting to feel real when I received my ticket to get inside the Lerner theater.

After I got searched by the secret service, we were all sat in the back of the theater while the stage was being set up. I got to talk to other students while we waited to get our seats.

When we all were seated, we still had a while for the President to arrive, so PBS had his speech at Concord live streamed to us while we waited. Everyone seemed relaxed, but once his speech was over, everyone was jittery and it got really quiet.

Then, Gwen Ifill, who was interviewing the president came out and began announcing the president, which was when I heard him laughing and talking quietly behind me. I was so star struck and I could not believe that I was there at that moment. He came out and I am pretty sure everyone had the same reaction that I did.

Hearing him speak in person was amazing. I grew up with this man as my President, and it was amazing to see him as more of a person than just a political figure. He made jokes, he laughed and he was very engaging with those who asked questions.

Several issues came up like transgender issues, Syrian refugees, gun control, education, and the economy. I really appreciated how knowledgeable he was about the issues and he took time with each question so that he could answer them well. I also applaud him because it cannot be easy coming to a place that is so conservative like the Elkhart area is.

I think the answer that stuck out to me the most was a question that was about the "bathroom issue" in public schools. These issues surrounding whether or not children should be able to use the bathroom that they are comfortable in. The president talked about the "golden rule" in which how people should be treated. He also said that he imagines it as if they were his children, and how he would want them to be treated.

Also, how he broke down what it really means to want gun control and that he does not want to take peoples' guns away, but wants more safety for the country as a whole.

My only issue with the program was that no Latinx got the chance to ask a question. There was at least 15 of us there, and the issues that Latinx face in this community was not talked about. As someone who wanted to ask a question about an issue that has caused a lot of fear in the community, I was disappointed. With such a high percentage of Latinx in the area, we should have been able to be represented. While I do not know whether this was simply because of time restraints or not, I would have liked to hear what the President had to say about these issues.

Over all, I think that this experience was an amazing one. I do not think I will do anything else this summer that would compare to this. I know that our President does not have much time in office, but one this is for sure. I will definitely miss him once his presidency is over.