By Eric Stock

NORMAL – Politicians weren’t the only ones closely watching President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address.

Hundreds of students from Illinois State University and Heartland Community College gathered at ISU’s Bone Student Center for a social media event on Tuesday night. University registrar Jess Ray brought his 13-year-old son Aiden.

“He’s so interested in politics,” Ray said. “He was excited about it and I think it was an opportunity to see other people who are engaged.”

Aiden said he was glad to see the president look toward the future.

“Obama knows he’s kind of a lame-duck president so it’s not really what he’s going to get done this year because he’s kind of the lone man on the stage,” Aiden said.

Aiden said he supports Bernie Sanders for president.

Heartland student body Vice President Sydney Torain said she was pleasantly surprised the ballroom remained quiet during the president’s speech.

“As soon as he started talking, everyone was like ‘this is what we’ve been waiting for,” Torain said. “They were literally watching him and hearing everything he had to say.”

The event at the ISU Bone Student Center featured interactive polling, live tweeting, and pre- and post-speech coverage.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
Colleen Reynolds contributed to this report.