By Katie Johnson ’11, Staff Writer

On January 20th, 2009, from the energized atmosphere of Newark Academy’s auditorium, the school watched President Obama’s inauguration ceremony.  It was an unspoken truth that the majority of the Newark Academy community was Obama-mad.  Indeed, in a recent Feature Section survey targeting NA students and faculty members, 85% of survey responders agreed with the statement “I was optimistic when Obama was elected President.”

As Obama delivered his inspirational words on that cold January day, the silence in the school auditorium whispered of humble reverence, and the resounding cheers as Obama finished his inaugural address echoed students’ and teachers’ optimism.

But where has this Obama-madness gone?  Has the NA community forgotten that less than a year ago we were giving a standing ovation to the first African-American president?  When asked if they believed that the country was going in a good direction, only 33% of survey respondents “agreed,” and a frighteningly close 28% of respondents either “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed.”  Most astonishing, however, was the 39% of survey respondents who replied that they were “neutral” on the issue of our country’s future!  (Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, not one respondent said that they “strongly agreed” that the country was headed in a positive direction.)

These numbers may have been drastically different last January.  Seniors Meyha Sud and Alex Hyman and Junior Brianne Robertson all agree that there was a unique sense of novelty about Obama’s election.  Sud says, “Even people who didn’t necessarily support his views were excited about how he would present himself, and those who supported him were excited that he was in office in the first place.”

Now, it is clear that the enthusiasm for politics and for the direction in which Obama is taking the country has declined. Not only that, but many members of the NA community are neutral on our future: with our lack of interest in Obama comes a lack of interest in the political future of our country.

Our former passion for Obama has faded into apprehension about America’s future and doubt that our government is doing an adequate job. Most agreed in 2009 that we could make a change in the United States by electing Obama as president.  Do we still believe this, or has time and observation of Obama’s recent actions changed our opinion?

NA students have learned through their American history classes that countries tend to become conservative in prosperous times, and that in times of trouble, they tend to become liberal. Are we stuck in this mold or has Obama done something to change the course of American history?  Being the first African-American president is no small feat, but is it enough anymore for us to believe that we can make a change in our country?

Where has our passion gone?  If Newark Academy is the global academy that it touts itself as being, we need to be opinionated in our views and researched in our standpoints.  We need to be passionate and informed citizens of the school community, of our local communities, of the nation, and of the world.  We can no longer just be “neutral” about the direction in which Obama is taking this country.  We can no longer be “neutral” about our country’s future.