The excitement of meeting US President Barack Obama recently has not worn off the senior students at Dungog Public School.
The Chronicle caught up with some of the students last week and the memories of the previous week were still fresh in their minds.
“He [President Obama] asked us for the hugs,” said Cody Argent.
“We were all shaking hands with him and he asked could he have a hug.
“Michael [Peacock] got the first hug, then Brady Snedden and then Chelsea [Gallagher].
“A lot of the photographers were kneeling on the floor near Chelsea and that’s when they got the photo [seen in newspapers around the country].”
The year 5 and 6 students were in Canberra for an excursion and were booked in to tour Parliament House on November 16.
When it fell on the same day the President would be there, they were told they couldn’t come. But later on they were asked if they would like to be a part of the welcome party along with Darley Primary School from Bacchus Marsh, Victoria.
“We had no idea what was going to happen until we got there,” said Harry Boorer.
“Julia [Gillard] came out of a room near where we were standing and then we saw the cars rolling up.
“We heard a 21-gun salute, and then they played our National Anthem and The Star-Spangled Banner.
“Then he came over to our side of the room and started shaking hands with us all.
“He was talking to us and said ‘g’day mate’ but he wasn’t very good with Aussie slang.
“He stayed around us for about 10 minutes.”
Chelsea Gallagher who made headlines around the world when she hugged the President said he was “tall and had a really big smile”.
“He asked about my Prime Minister’s badge and what it meant,” she said.
“The cameras were going off all around us, there were heaps of photographers around.
“I told Julia [Gillard] she had lovely nails . . . they were really nice.
“After he signed the visitor’s book he went off with Julia somewhere and a guide then showed us around.”
After the students left the media chased them and wanted interviews and more photos.
The students said there were 61 missed calls on teacher Ms Coombs phone, with calls from all over Australia, some from America and one from Greece.
Harry Boorer, Laura Inwood and Chelsea were interviewed by Chris Bath for the Channel 7 news and Sunrise and Chelsea for the 7pm Project on Channel 10, as well as numerous radio interviews.
“I lost count [of how many] after awhile,” Chelsea said.
“It was fun but then I got a bit sick of it,” Chelsea said.
“But we all had a great week and it was good looking at all the newspapers when we got home.”
Principal Steven Richard said he received phone calls from family, teachers, principals and School Education directors to say that they had just seen Dungog Public School students meeting the President and Prime Minister.
“By the time I got through to Miss Coombs [who was in Canberra with the students] Dungog Public School was famous across the country,” Mr Richard said.
“Interviews with 7 News, Sunrise, The Project, Triple M Radio, ABC Radio all followed.
“Each and every time you turned on the television there was a Dungog student dressed in perfect uniform, big smile on their face, and speaking like this was something that happened every day.
“Our school was buzzing and so very proud of each and every one of our students.
“At our morning assembly I challenged our students to see how far the story had travelled, we found a photo and story in the Witchawa Eagle paper in Kansas.
“I believe we were asked [to meet the president] as a result of all times over the years when our school has been away on excursions.
“The feedback that we always receive is that our students are the best behaved, best mannered and most enthusiastic students that have ever had.
“This is the reason that I believe we were given this wonderful opportunity.”
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