Students lined up past Boshamer Stadium to see President Barack Obama

Classrooms and lecture halls across campus were empty on Wednesday as thousands of students lined up to see President Barack Obama. With lines forming early in the morning, people began to find interesting ways to pass the time.

Students were lined up all the way down South Road, down Stadium Drive and past Boshamer Stadium hoping to catch a glimpse of Obama.

Sophomore Farhin Shaikh said she and her friends started waiting shortly before 9 a.m., and found themselves all the way back at the Bell Tower.

“We were still excited,” she said. “I’ve never seen a president before.”

Shaikh and her friends beat the cold, the heat and the wait by playing cards and swapping their favorite Obama stories.

“We’ve been playing cards,” she said. “Well, I’ve been learning to play cards. These two are crazy good, they’re like slap-jack masters, but I’m having fun.”

Shaikh said she hoped to meet Obama, and already had her question ready.

“I’d definitely want to know what he’s going to miss most about the White house,” she said.

Sophomore Corey Shope and his friend Spencer Wild made it to the line just before 8 a.m. and ended up near the South Road bus stop.

“We are super excited to see him,” Wild said. “We love Obama.”

Shope said a lot of people had camped out the night before even though the event instructions said not to.

“We got here at 8 a.m., and we are all the way back here,” he said.

Shope said if he could ask Obama anything, he’d ask him out to lunch, and had already picked out the place.

“It’s got to be nice, so I’ll definitely swipe him into Lenoir,” he said. “We can pretend it’s fancy and tell him it’s French.”

Shope and Wild said they are excited for the next election, but will miss the president when he’s no longer in office.

“I like all of his random pop-ups on SNL,” Wild said. “He’s just a really cool guy.”

Just like Shaikh and her friends, they were chattering on about their favorite Obama moments and videos throughout his terms.

“I watched some video where he was talking about how early he was to everything,” Shope said. “He said that if he had a meeting at 6 a.m., he’d be there 30 minutes early. Barack. Where are you, Barack?”

Though they said they were freezing in the morning and burning up by noon, Wild and Shope said they were glad they were getting to see Obama one last time before the end of his presidency.

“He’s very involved in the community and I’ll just really miss him,” Wild said.

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