All in a Day's Work

If I were a thrill-seeker, I'd be hard-pressed to top last week's experience. As many of you know, I've been fortunate enough to do a lot of work in the past couple of years for a Global 500 company and have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of great people and work on some creative video projects. I'd have to say that last week, however, takes the cake. 

A few weeks back we were in Atlanta shooting a few interviews for aforementioned company's project on going green. While there, we met a woman who works with their community relationships-namely their giving back to the community. A lot of their efforts center around donating to educational programs and she mentioned that she needed some footage re-shot at the National Teacher of the Year award ceremony and asked, almost in passing, if we would be able to be there for it. We said yes, and when she told us it was at the White House and the President would be presenting the award, we could only answer calmly and collected, "Sure." 

Next thing we know we're calling The Guy with our social security info, state of residence, etc. A day later the budget was confirmed and we booked our plane tickets. 

I'll skip the mundane details of getting there and even arriving the morning of the event (it was pretty wild telling the cab driver we needed to go to the East Entrance of the WH). Once through security (kind of like airport security only they had already done background checks on us), we were in. We were escorted by no fewer than 4 people in the 100 yards it took to walk to the Rose Garden. After setting up our gear, we were again escorted to the area the press hangs out in-a room past another security gate that held about 20 small workspaces. The walk to the Press Briefing room (the one you see on TV) wouldn't have been complete without brushing past Helen Thomas, a White House press fixture. 

We found ourselves waiting for 20 minutes in the seats of the Press Briefing room with all the other media folks-the ones from CNN and AP and such. They were laughing and joking around and talking about poker. We were awestruck and wishing we had brought a camera in. 

The press was called back out to the Rose Garden once all the guests had been seated and the ceremony promptly began. An official-sounding voice came over the PA system and began introducing each of the 50 Teacher of the Year candidates, one at a time, like they were graduates walking across the stage-only they were walking out of the Oval Office, down past the familiar Rose Garden podium and to their seats. 

Once they had all been introduced, there was a long pause. It was probably a last minute security check before the main event, the Moment. From the time we stepped onto the WH grounds, the electricity and buzz was more than evident. It was hard to imagine the security detail present as the seconds ticked down. 

And then came the announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied by the Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and the Teacher of the Year, Michael Geisen. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I now stood, holding my own video camera (not camera 1, mind you, but my own camera) 50 feet from arguably the most powerful man on the planet. It was awesome. 

The President talked for a bit, then Michael and then it wrapped when the President thanked all in attendance for coming and walked back from whence he came into his Oval Office. 

It's hard to put into words an experience like this. With all of the pomp and circumstance, the adrenaline of being in one of the most sensitive spots on earth, I realized the privilege it was to experience these short, glowing moments. And in reality (as is the reality for so many who cover the White House press) it was simply another day at the office. 

To see the footage from the event (not our footage, but identical) click here.