Pix with former prez is present for Bucknell senior

It is not every day that a former president of the United States tells you he wants to take a picture with you.

Allison Hirsch and Brandy Newton painted their faces with blue and orange dots, the Bucknell University school colors, when former President Bill Clinton made an April 13 campaign stop at the Lewisburg, Pa., school in support of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Hirsch, of Freehold Township, is the taller of the two young women with the painted faces. But that day came on April 13 for Allison Hirsch, of Freehold Township, when she and a group of fellow students at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., smiled for the camera and had a photo snapped with Bill Clinton.

The smiling coeds surrounded the affable Clinton after he appeared in the Sojka Pavilion on the university's campus while campaigning for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as she seeks the Democratic nomination to run for president.

Hirsch, a graduate of the Freehold Regional High School District's International Studies learning center at Freehold Township High School, is in the waning days of her college career.

The senior is majoring in economics and political science and "looking for a job" in finance.

She said students were notified a day or two before Clinton swept into town that the former president would be making an appearance of behalf of his wife.

"The students were asked to 'orange out' the Sojka Pavilion, which is what they call it when everyone wears orange to a basketball game," Hirsch said. "My roommate and I would paint our faces for basketball games and we said, 'Let's do it one more time.'

"After President Clinton spoke about his wife, he was shaking hands with people. We were up toward the front and he saw us and said, 'Wow, you guys look great!' " said Hirsch, who was on the cheerleading team during her days at FTHS. "He took our camera, handed it to a Secret Service agent and the Secret Service agent snapped the picture."

Hirsch, who is the daughter of Shirley and David Hirsch, described the people who came to see and listen to the former two-term president as a friendly crowd.

While some people in the crowd just wore orange, Hirsch and her roommate, Brandy Newton, who is from Warren County, painted their faces with blue and orange dots - the Bucknell colors.

Hirsch described meeting Clinton and having her photo taken with him as "a one-of-a-kind" experience.