Students at Elena Kagan's New York City high school watched with delight as President Obama introduc

(10 May 2010) HEADLINE: Hometown applause for Obama's Supreme Court pick
NB. THIS IS A VOICEOVER TRANSCRIPT, NOT A FULL SHOTLIST
CAPTION: Students at Elena Kagan's New York City high school watched with delight as President Obama introduced his Supreme Court nominee to the nation. Ted Shaffrey reports. (May 10)
SLUG: Obama-Supreme Court
(New York)
NATS: 'Applause'
That's applause for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan at her old high school, Hunter College High School, a free public school in New York City.
(Sarah Daupl-Weverman, Hunter College High School)
(Jenny Li, Hunter College High School)
"It's great, yeah. "
"It's nice to know it's someone from this school.
"We feel really proud, we have a lot of school pride, a LOT of school pride!"
In her 1977 High School yearbook, there's even a photo of Kagan posing with a judge's gavel in a judge's robe, as student government president.
In another yearbook entry, she quotes former Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, saying "Government is itself an art, one of the subtlest of arts."
Associated Press reporter Beth Harpaz was in Kagan's graduating class.
(Beth Harpaz, Kagan Classmate)
"She'll be able to handle any question that comes her way, without ever breaking a sweat, and without ever alienating anyone. I don't want this to sound pejorative, but she's always been a fairly political person, I don't mean an activist, but in terms of her savvy, and her ability to deal with other people. I have no doubt that she can acquit herself well at the hearings."
Elena Kagan's brother Irving Kagan, is a teacher at the school, instructing students in constitutional law.
(Daniel Charrow, Student of Irving Kagan)
"He's very proud of her, we're all very proud of her"
Kagan's New York roots run so deep, as president Obama pointed out, she's even a Mets fan.
"This appreciation for diverse views may also come in handy, as a die hard Mets fan, serving alongside her new colleague to be, Yankees fan justice Sotomayor who I believe has ordered a pin stripe robe for the occasion."
Students listening to her nomination speech were happy to hear a slight New York accent.
"Why I so love the law."
(Ian Kunze, Hunter College High School)
"I could hear a little bit of her accent in there, so that was kind of nice, something a little bit homey and she got up there and she made it and chased what she wanted."
Kagan says she wishes her parents were alive to see the nomination.
(Elena Kagan, Supreme Court Nominee)
"If this has a touch of sadness for me, it is because my parents aren't here to share it."
Kagan grew up Jewish with her parents in this building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan -- right across the street from a plaque commemorating the home of another neighborhood kid who made good.
That's former Chief Justice of the U-S Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes, who served on the high court in the 1930s.
Ted Shaffrey, The Associated Press, New York
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