More than 400 students, parents and teachers crammed into an auditorium at Punahou School this morning to watch Barack Obama, a Punahou alum, take the oath of office and deliver his inaugural address.

The crowd, gathered in the Twigg-Smith Pavilion, rose when Obama was sworn in and roared with applause when he took to the microphone to speak.

Victoria Eliazar, 13, said she still can't believe that Obama once walked the halls of her school and sat in lessons with some of the teachers she now listens to.

"It's a little spooky because he's a great man now leading America," Eliazar said.

Students started gathering in the pavilion around 6:30 a.m., and by 7 a.m., the auditorium was packed and students were still streaming in. Some of the adults in the crowd were brought to tears by the inauguration proceedings.

The younger people in the crowd were moved in a different way: They were excited and jubilant, showing off their Obama T-shirts and clapping loudly for the president.

"I'm filled with much pride," said Trek Mizoguchi, a seventh-grader, "as someone from Hawai'i and a graduate from Punahou School is the president of the United States."