President Donald J. Trump has surely made his presence known within the first month of his presidency. After a cutthroat election and shocking results, Trump sure has made his mark within the first few weeks of being in office. Due to the fact this year’s inauguration had the lowest attendance in the past few years, many were expecting Trump to make a splash. Let’s recap on what he has done so far:

One of the very first things Trump has done since being in office is repealing the Affordable Care Act. This is also known as Obamacare. Many Americans were very happy with this because they have been waiting for Obama care to be repealed. This should save many citizens, health care providers, and insurer’s a lot of money. One of the main promises trump has made is to build that wall, and even though he has not yet started laying the brick, he has increased border patrol. He has ordered the 1,900 mile long wall to be built and added 5,000 new border patrol agents along the U.S. border. However, Congress still has to appropriate the funds for the project. On the inside, Trump has created an executive order to deport undocumented immigrants. This has created a lot of controversy and caused many protests to occur all throughout the United States. He also has denied the entry into the country for refugees from seven specific countries. The president has come through with many of his promises, no one can deny that. Besides immigration, Trump has begun deregulation by marking two regulations to be removed in the near future. He has also made it so when a crime is committed against a law enforcement officer, the case automatically becomes a federal issue. Trump signed five executive orders within the first week of his presidency; equal with the amount Obama signed. Many citizens have very strong opinions about Trump, there is no doubt that you either love him or hate him. Whichever way you may feel, he is getting things done. Not saying that you must support what he is doing, but the money man is definitely not wasting time getting down to business.

Senior Gracie Cox has recently had a first-hand experience dealing with the executive branch of government by attending the presidential inauguration. Gracie missed a whole week of school to travel to and stay in D.C. for the event. Leading up to the inauguration, the group she was with—the Envision Program Presidential Inaugural Leadership Summit—got to witness all of the craziness of the massive occurrence while also getting a background in what it takes to be a leader both in and out of politics. To get a better understanding of what her experience was like, I asked Gracie questions and her responses are listed below:

What was the main reason you wanted to go to the inauguration? 

I wanted to go for the experience. At the time I signed up for the summit, the winner was still very unclear so it was a toss-up as to who I was going to see get inaugurated. Either way, it was a part of history I am honored to have seen.

Did you all meet any politicians or see the president? 

While at the summit, we heard from a variety of speakers-3 of which being Carly Fiorina, Governor Martin O’Malley, and General Colin Powell. Other than watching those 3 speak, we did not get to meet any politicians. However, we were late to an event once because Vice President Joe Biden was at our hotel!

What activities did you all do besides go to the inauguration?

The summit was all about global change in some form or another. We were split into groups and had to come up with a solution to global issues. To incorporate the business side of the President, it was encouraged to create a “business” or “interest group” that you could pitch that dealt with certain issues. The conference I was in was Imagining Peace: Global Conflict. My group created U.S. in Government, an awareness group dedicated to raising awareness about under-representation of peoples with regards to presiding governments. The pitches were a competition and my group got fourth. It was a great way to look into the more business side of politics.

Do you see yourself working in a politics when you are older? 

I definitely don’t want to be a politician and run for any positions but I would like to be involved in politics. I’m majoring in Justice and Law so I would want to be a lawyer and try to tie that into politics.

What was your favorite memory from the trip?

My favorite memory is probably the first night when we first met our groups. We went to dinner after having an introductory meeting and a group of about 8 of us immediately stuck together. It was great experiencing the weekend with all of them.

Did this experience change your political ideology at all? If so, why? 

I wouldn’t say my political ideology changed any with this experience but I still appreciated watching history.

If you were to do it all over again tomorrow, what would you change about it?

I don’t think I would change anything about my experience at the summit. It was great!