Standing in the cold outside Manchester-Boston Regional Airport an FBI agent gives me a look that halts my curious glances. He cracks the door open and says, “gentlemen you may come in now.” Katie, the other student reporter I am with exchange glances, but we do not say anything. We are both thinking, we are not gentlemen, so we should stay outside. We watch the men enter. The only woman in the airport approached the agent and says something to him. He promptly opens the door and tells us to go in. His voice is cold. All the press gathers in a hall before they we are allowed on the runway. We watch countless Secrets Service and FBI agents walk by; they are all around us.
The same woman comes to the hallway to let the press know; we can go onto the tarmac to watch Air Force One land. The sound of the plane landing rattled me inside and out. The mood on the runway completely shifted when the plane door opens.
The piercing looks and cold filled me with pride. We are taken seriously by the men protecting the President, we are the same as any other press there. A posse of men get off the plane following the President. Another squad of men great him on the runway, some of which I had interviewed days prior.
Watching the president exit Air Force One is an experience few receive. I chose a school in New Hampshire to make this opportunity and many others possible. The purple state has an important role in politics, which I have seen first-hand repetitively. To see how the White House operates exposed me to careers I am interested in, that I did not know were possible before. These are the positions I strive for. One day I can be the woman in the airport, or a part of a Presidential press pool.
Photos by Magnolia McComish
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