By Julia Rosier

After Joe Biden was declared the projected winner of the presidential election on Saturday, University of Maryland students ventured to Washington to see and participate in the celebrations. 

Public displays occurred throughout the nation, including in the district near the White House and Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Junior communication major Alexandra Ruocco went to Washington after Joe Biden won the presidency. Ruocco said she went with friends to celebrate the win.

“Everyone we saw acted as if we were their friends, some helped us take pictures or posed with us. Other people posed for pictures with fun signs and cutouts of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Ruocco said. “It was overall so amazing and I felt so welcome and happy to be a part of such a historic day.”

Ruocco said she went near the White House and that “it was very fun, exciting and peaceful and everyone was wearing a mask.”

“People were waving BLM, LGBTQ, anti-Trump flags and dancing around, playing music and chanting,” she said. “People in cars were beeping at those in the streets and waving and expressing their excitement as well.”

Junior communication major and public policy minor Isabelle Roberts said she also went to Washington after the projected election results were announced. Roberts said that “D.C. was literally roaring.”

“When I found out I cried for a while. It was overwhelming, exciting, surreal,” Roberts said. “Honestly my first thought was ‘I want to go dance in the street with strangers,’ because I was so happy.”

Roberts said she did not see any protests while in the district..

“I was a little bit concerned for my safety, as were the other people I was with,” she said. “But we tried to put that aside and be in the moment because honestly, it was nothing like we had ever experienced.”

Junior animal science major Diana Demaria said she did not attend the post-election events because she did not know if the displays would be celebratory or combative.

“I only expected there to be riots if Trump won,” Demaria said. 

The celebrations and protests continued throughout the weekend all over the nation.

Featured image: People in Washington carrying signs and flags rejoiced as President Donald Trump was projected to lose the presidential election.

Photo Courtesy of Alexandra Ruocco