They had their iPads ready.
Jamal Hill, Destiny Huff, Ayanna Wilborne and Amya Wilborne, among 70 people, were rapidly snapping photos as they watched Air Force One land at the 130th Airlift Wing, Tuesday for President Barack Obama's town hall on prescription drug abuse in Charleston.
The four students, wearing matching white "East End Family Resource Center" T-shirts, were among the first to shake hands with Obama.
"He was so close!" Amya Wilborne, who was invited because of her good grades, said before she turned to her sister, bubbling with excitement.
The president flew in on a Boeing C-32 jet, the plane that usually serves Vice President Joe Biden, and landed at 1:53 p.m. That plane, which is smaller than the normal Boeing 747-200 Air Force One, is the plane Obama takes to airports with smaller runways.
Charleston Mayor Danny Jones and U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito were on hand to greet the president and ride in his 8-ton, 18-foot, bulletproof Cadillac in the motorcade to the Roosevelt Family Resource Center.
Obama was in town to address drug and heroin use, which has killed 2,900 people in West Virginia from overdoses in the past five years.
The onlookers at McLaughlin Air National Guard Base included a mix of families, kids, ministers and people with enough connections to get invited to watch the President disembark in Charleston for the third time in his two terms.
Christie Fletcher, whose brother works for the Secret service, was able to bring her family to the event.
"It adds humanity to the situation," her husband, James Fletcher, said. "Because when you watch him on television it doesn't come across as an event that you can experience."
Christie's son, Logan Peterson was able to tweet out a picture of Obama. He had only gotten a few retweets and favorites while he was sitting around the aerial port at the McLaughlin Air National Guard Base, waiting to see his uncle.
"I don't have a goal," he said, in terms of how many retweets he wants, "It was just to kind of brag."
After the event, with a wave at the door of Air Force One, the president boarded the plane and took off for Washington, D.C.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.