As 2007 came ringing in, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was ushered out. The State House has now opened its doors to the fresh face of Deval Patrick.

Patrick was elected to the governorship of Massachusetts in early November of 2006, much to the majority's approval. Not only is he the 71st Massachusetts governor, but he is the first African American to hold this office in Bay State history. More significantly, he is the second African American elected as governor in United States history.

Hannah Greenough and Dan Jarmolowicz, two seniors at Ipswich High School, were selected by Principal Barry Cahill to attend Patrick's Youth Inauguration. Patrick aims to involve himself with high schools across the state.

"It was really thoughtful of him to include kids in his inauguration," Jarmolowicz said. "Afterall, we're part of this Commonwealth too."

The January 4, 2007 event was held at the Shubert Theatre and featured a flamenco guitarist and a hip-hop dance group. The event started off with a student-created slideshow urging people to take action on the Darfur issue.

“[The event included] a lot of singing, dancing, and just plain having fun," Jarmolowicz told The Tiger Transcript. "The purpose of the assembly was Deval’s desire to get the youth’s perspective and utilize their energy and intelligence."

Jarmolowicz is no stranger to the Deval Patrick administration. He contributed his help to Patrick’s campaign for governor.

“I am very happy that I attended the event," Jarmolowicz said. "Mr. Cahill told me that he even saw me on the news!”

For those students who don’t remember Patrick’s campaign, he ran for the assurance of long term community-based care, the expansion of access to personal care attendants, the insurance of job opportunity, the development of affordable housing options and to enforce the ADA (Americans with disabilities act.)

Students may find comfort in knowing that Patrick's resume boasts in-depth political experience. After admittance to law school at Harvard University, he was elected president of the Legal Aid Bureau. He went on to meet Bill Clinton, who was serving as governor of Arkansas at the time. When Clinton became president, Deval served as the head of Civil Rights in Clinton’s administration.

One comment by Deval Patrick still resonates in Jarmolowicz's mind:

"He talked about how the theatre we were in was once a segregated theatre," Jarmolowicz recalled. "However, people taking action changed that. That's what this whole [event] was about: how to get people, especially kids, involved in making this world a better place."

“I wasn’t able to ask Deval [many questions] due to the fact that there were two students from every high school in the state attending, and all of us had questions and comments," Jarmolowicz said.

"When Dan asked Deval a question, you could tell that he was really passionate about his job and ready to take action,” said Hannah Greenough, one of the two students who attended the event.

Patrick resides in Milton, Massachusetts where he lives with wife Diane Patrick and two daughters, Sarah, 19 and Katherine, 15. Patrick's lieutenant governor is Timothy Murray.

"I'm really excited for Deval because I know he'll listen," Jarmolowicz said. "He has said it himself that he doesn't have all the answers - no one does. We all must work together in order to be succesful. Deval is going to listen to both sides and make it work."