by Natalie Fitts

After two and a half hours of singing for foreign diplomats in the White House, and another hour and a half of Christmas carols to go, junior Natalie Rall and 26 other girls in her choir just wanted to relax.

So when it was time for a break, they slipped off their shoes and started eating cookies shaped like Bo, President Obama’s dog.

“Come upstairs right now if you want to meet the President!”

Thus started a frenzy of over two dozen teenage girls fixing their hair, straightening their dresses and finding their shoes. There was barely time to process what was happening.

Three months earlier, when her choir found out they were going to Washington, D.C., none of them expected to meet the President. It was cool enough to be able to add the White House to the list of places they had sung, which already included St. Peter’s Basilica and Carnegie Hall.

But when she heard Obama’s voice in the Oval Office, seconds before he entered the room, it suddenly became much cooler.

When Barack came into the room, he started making his way down the line of girls, shaking each one’s hand. Michelle followed with hugs.

Despite having already sung about half of their 30 song setlist, the choir performed a carol for the couple before getting a picture with them.

Overwhelmed with excitement, the girls were almost immediately ushered back to finish their set.

They didn’t have time to discuss the evening’s events until they returned to their hotel. By 3 a.m., she still couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

It was hard for her to process that just a few hours earlier, the President of the United States had asked her how school was going. And that she had been barefoot in his house.