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It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day in DC! These two weeks went by incredibly quickly and I’ll have a lot to do tomorrow to make sure I get to everywhere I want to go. It really did not hit me that today was my second to last day in DC and boy, it was a good one. The day started off bright and early (or dark and early as my horse show friends like to say) at 6 am. We had to be on our way before 7 to get all the way to the White House for an East Wing tour. Unfortunately, no purses are allowed in the White House, so I knew time would be tight because I would have to go from the White House back to the hotel, get my things, and then head back out to Cafe Philips, just south of the Mall for my 10 am meeting. Luckily, I managed to do it with just enough time, and my meeting with Joe Flarida, staff and press assistant on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology went smoothly.

I had been really looking forward to this meeting as I know almost nothing about public policy and the legislative process and Flarida graduated from OSU just 2 years ago, so I knew he was much closer to me in terms of work experience than most people. He told me about how he got his start in policy, working on research in the Glenn School and then interning with a company, which turned into a job in DC. He then interned for the Committee which eventually became a job. Since he was on my position not too long ago, he had some great advice about working in DC. Two important skills he mentioned was to have tough skin and not be afraid to follow up with or ask about an opportunity. He said to wok hard because someone will usually take notice and can take your resume up to higher places, helping you get a job later on. Flarida also talked about how much he enjoys policy work. He is considering making the legislative process his niche. The Committee handles legislation and developing policies for NASA, technology use, energy, and the environment. He said that it can be difficult sometimes for them to do their work because the Democrats are in the House minority and this can make pursuing some policies challenging. The toughest part of his job is the gridlock that can occur and when legislation that you have worked on for a long time is pushed aside. I asked about NASA and the future of our space program, as that is of particular interest to me, and Flarida said that NASA tends to be bipartisan. The “fear of falling behind” allows NASA to keep running and new programs to be developed for it. Flarida also mentioned that attorneys work on the Committee, which was interesting to me. I did not realize that I could work on a committee as an attorney. I was an idiot and completely forgot to ask about tips for applying for internships on the Committee, but Flarida did mention that if I ever needed help with anything or had any questions, I could reach out to him. He also said that if I end up in DC next summer, we should get coffee and catch up, so I’m hoping that these signs mean he’ll be willing to answer questions I am sure I will have about applying for the internship on the Committee next summer.

When I asked the very popular question along the lines of “Does you undergrad major really matter?”, I got the best answer I’ve ever gotten to that question. Most other people I have met with say that their major really didn’t matter and most of them do not even use it anymore. But Joe Flarida told me “Your major matters if you make it matter”. In other words, if you can take what you learned in your major classes and see how it could apply to a future career and explain to other people exactly what you have learned and the skills you have gained, then your major was a valuable experience.

I had some time between my meeting with Flarida and my next meeting, so I went to the American Indian museum before heading to the Smithsonian Castle Cafe to meet David Cook, a project manager at the National Agricultural Statistic Service at the USDA. That service sends out surveys to collect data that can impact agriculturally-related commodities. Though I do not see myself working in a job like his, he was still great to meet with. He told me about living/working in DC (great for young people, even though it’s massively expensive). He also told me a bit about his time in AmeriCorps before grad school, which was great because I am also interested in joining AmeriCorp or Peace Corp before law school. We talked about how many OSU alums are in DC too. Apparently, there is an “Ohio State” bar all the alums go to in Georgetown. Flarida actually told me about this during our meeting too. Some of the night games can attract hundreds of people! It just goes to show you that in a town where connections really do matter, an Ohio State education can really help you out.

Today was another incredibly busy day as I ran all around DC to get to my different meetings. I began my day by going from the hotel all the way up to the Tenleytown-AU Metro stop. Haley and I met Joe Cortuvo there. He specializes in water, environment, and public health work in DC. He has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and worked for the EPA for 25 years. He was pretty interesting to talk to, but in the hour we met with him before I had to leave, we asked maybe one question. He would take anything we said and go off on a tangent about it. Don’t get me wrong, he has a lot of interesting experiences, but I did not get as much out of the meeting as I wanted to.

Unfortunately, I had to leave in a hurry to get all the way back to downtown DC for an appointment at the Federal Court of Appeals. I met with a law clerk, Lana Guthrie, who has been clerking for Judge Kathleen O’Malley for 5 years. She went to OSU’s law school directly after undergrad and had some great advice for me about law school and clerking. She suggested I go to the best law school I can get into and then work my butt off to succeed. Guthrie also said to get involved in a journal in law school to develop writing skills, it’s pretty much a necessity to be a clerk. Judges also like to see previous experience, either other clerkships or legal work, when you apply to be a clerk.

I had some time after my meeting at the Court of Appeals before I had to go back up to Tenleytown for my next appointment at American University Washington College of Law, so I got lunch at the American Indian Museum with Lindsey and took care of some internship business. Being able to participate in so many meetings and make new contacts is so valuable, however, I am spending more time than I would like working on summer stuff like planning my internship and part-time job.

I made sure to leave a good hour to get to Tenleytown from the Mall, and it was definitely needed. The transfers and trip distance took awhile and I made it to the Tenleytown Metro station only 20 minutes before my appointment at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) . It was a mile walk from the station to the law school, but the overcast skies and cool temperature made it a pleasant one. It was a great way to see the area- it was full of really attractive residential homes. They all had a different style to them and were on the smaller side, which I found more appealing than the very large mansions you sometimes see.

At WCL I met with an admissions counselor named Maura Ryan. While waiting for Ryan to come get me for our meeting, I was able to briefly speak with an current student who was working the front desk. She had just finished her 2L year and really enjoyed American. She mentioned how friendly the other students and professors were, something Ryan echoed later in our discussion.

Ryan went over a ton of information about WCL with me and I left with plenty of pamphlets. I was especially interested to learn about their merit scholarships and the fact that if you remain in good academic standing (at least a 2.0 GPA) they can be renewable for all three years, a definite plus as I will be paying for law school myself. WCL has a range of course offerings, but no specific specializations or set course list you really have to follow after your first year. Ryan mentioned to me that at WCL, your law education is really in your hands and it will be what you make of it. There is plenty of opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom whether through externships (taken for credit), internships (no credit awarded), moot court, mock trial, or journals. Ryan said that their office of career development has staff members who focus on certain areas- big law, clerkships, public interest work, etc.- to give students more focused career advice.

The best advice I received from Ryan was in writing the personal statement. Since WCL does not conduct interviews, Ryan said to use the personal statement to say what you would highlight in an interview. While this doesn’t narrow down the potential topics, it does really help me focus my thinking. I asked about LSAT scores and how WCL feels about students taking them more than once. Ryan responded by saying that they take the highest score, and while they’re okay with students taking the LSAT one or two times, you don’t want to take it too many times.

That’s pretty much it for today. I could go in to more detail about my changing thoughts on law school (i.e. going straight in instead of taking time off), but I am exhausted and I still have to prepare for my meetings tomorrow.

The more I experience and do on this trip, the harder it seems to be to remember when exactly I did something. For instance, I went out to dinner with my aunt earlier this evening and when I started listing the places I went to, I found I could not readily think of most of them. Last week seems like it was a year ago. Nevertheless, DC has been amazing and even though today was uncomfortably hot, it’s all worth it.

Since my first appointment was not until 3 pm, I had some leisure time this morning and early afternoon. I took my time getting ready, updated the blog, created questions, and mapped out my travel for the day. I must have left around 11 and headed to the National Geographic Museum. I forgot how small that museum was and allotted way too much time for it. It was still really interesting though. They had a large ancient Peruvian culture and gold exhibit which was quite interesting. Some of the artifacts were as old as 4,000 years! I have a hard time believing anything of today’s society will survive 4,000 years, except maybe online. But then the human race may not even exist or may have left Earth by then so who really knows. I spent some time strolling through their gift shop looking for a gift for my mother and found a gorgeous mug featuring the famous cherry blossoms.

By this time, it was only 1 pm, but since I was starving I looked for a place to eat. I decided to be adventurous and juts walk down the street until I saw something interesting and I went less than a block to find City Place Cafe. This was clearly a local place- the cashier knew every customer’s name and it was very small and homey. I definitely want to go back though- the sandwich I got was delicious! After lunch, I headed to Starbucks for some coffee and to waste some more time before the meeting.

2:30 finally rolled around so I began the 10 minute walk to Jessica Adler’s office. I met Zach there because he was also doing this meeting. Jessica Adler has been in DC since 2000, she moved here right after law school. She worked at two private firms and then opened up her own practice where she specializes in family law. This was interesting because it is the one type of law I will absolutely never consider practicing. She still had a lot of good information to share, including the reason she opened her own practices was she saw mistakes and unethical behaviors in her previous places of employment, and she always wanted to open her own practice. She really stressed networking, she is president of the Women’s Bar Association, works with the Anti-Defamation League, and is barred in Maryland and Virginia as well as DC. She had a different take on the necessary skills to be a lawyer, saying that we should really work on people and relationship building skills as well as the ability to think on our feet. Especially with her job, she needs to be able to read people quickly to see if she wants to take them on as a client. She said she is choosey with her clientele and will not take just anyone on. I asked her about being a woman and what barriers in the law there were and she mentioned that she personally was not affected. Adler did say that big firms have issues in terms of not promoting women to partner, etc. She also mentioned that if she wanted to have kids (which she doesn’t) it would be extremely different. She works too much and feels that it would be unfair to a child anyway to have them essentially be raised by a nanny.

After our meeting with Adler concluded, Zach and I had to get down to the Gallery Place metro stop from the Farragut North metro stop to get to our meeting with Cynthia Huber. We met up with Haley, who was also going to this meeting, along the way. Cynthia works in the Natural Resources Section of the Environmental and Natural Resources Division at the DOJ. That division has a lot of different sections that do many different things, but Huber’s section defends federal agencies when they are sued on the management of federal lands (National Parks, National Forests, etc) and other projects (like highways or dams) based on their analysis of environmental impacts and whether the projects satisfy legal requirements. She was really interesting to talk to and holds a job I could see myself holding one day. She is a supervisor in her section. She worked for a couple of organizations before coming to the DOJ 18 years ago. None of those organizations were private practice, she knew she never wanted to get in to that. She credits for getting a job in the ENR Division, albeit in a different section, due to her litigation experience. She says that litigation is litigation no matter what the law is, so even though she had no environmental experience, she got the job. Huber said that doing Moot Court in law school was really helpful in preparing for that. I asked Huber about ranking of law school and if that mattered. She replied that it depended on what you wanted to do. Some firms and certain jobs liked to have certain law school graduates, but otherwise after a few years and some work experience, where you went to law school does not really matter. She told us about how much she loved her job and that it provided new experiences all the time.

After that meeting, I headed back up to DuPont to meet my aunt Julie for dinner. We went to a wonderful restaurant called “The Front Page”. I suppose I should start preparing some questions for tomorrow now. It’s an important day. I’m meeting with an environmental attorney, getting a tour of the Court of Appeals, and then meeting with an admissions counselor form American University Washington College of Law!

Yesterday was the first day of individual meetings, and it was a nice change from the group ones. I much prefer planning my own schedule, so this second week has been fun for me so far. Since I did not have a formal meeting until 12:30, I spent a couple hours at the Air and Space Museum. On Mondays, they have a special ‘What’s New in Space Science” planetarium show for free, so I saw that. It was pretty interesting and the technology they have is incredible. We were able to zoom in on planets and moons, travel around them in 360 degrees, and move forward or backward in time to change the positioning of the celestial bodies in relation to Earth. It was fascinating. The planet we spent the most time with was Saturn, which we’re learning a lot more about because the Cassini spacecraft is there.

From the Air and Space Museum, I traveled to Cuba Libre to meet Betty Karyginnis, an attorney in the tax division at the Department of Justice. I’ve been really looking forward to this meeting- Paul, my STEP advisor got me this contact. Apparently Betty’s husband is Paul’s best friend from college. Anyway, I learned a lot form being able to speak with her. She went to Rutgers undergrad (major: accounting) and Rutgers law school. She didn’t take off any time between undergrad and law school and didn’t take any of those “pre law school classes”. After law school, Betty clerked, worked at a private firm, and then went to the DOJ. She told me about how much she loved her job and that the DOJ is a great place to work. They give great benefits, she gets a lot of vacation time, and the work is interesting. Everyday is different and Betty’s been working at the DOJ for 15 years. Betty did mention that her one critique of the DOJ is that they provide virtually no maternity leave. That’s not necessarily a problem for me, but it is something to be aware of. Betty also said that one of the nice things about the DOJ is the fact that the attorney’s pretty much have full control over their cases, with little oversight from superiors. However she also mentioned the DOJ’s open-door policy, which means that if you wanted or needed to talk a case over with someone, there’s always that option. She also mentioned that there’s no a whole lot of room to move up in the ranks, so to speak. You get more complex cases and more responsibility the longer you’re there, but there’s not a lot of supervisory positions to move up to. In terms of advice, Betty said that getting involved in moot court, mock trial, and developing writing skills were all good if I want to clerk and write on my future law school’s law review.

After our lunch was over, I walked over to Sidley Austin to meet some of the Scholars DC cohort. We met with Carter Phillips, managing partner of Sidley Austin. It was really cool speaking with him- he has a range of experience throughout his long career. He clerked for a chief justice at the Supreme Court, worked for the DOJ Solicitor General, and has been at Sidley Austin for more than 30 years. He had great stories about the Supreme Court justices as he has presented oral arguments in front of them many many times. He also worked with Justice Alito at the DOJ, so he had great stories about that as well. Phillips also had great advice for aspiring lawyers, such as working on writing skills. He also said that it is better for a young lawyer to enter private practice before going into government work because you have less oversight and training there. He said that private practice will prevent the development of bad habits and poor practices.

I decided to take a break from planning out this next week of individual meetings by finally updating this blog about what I’ve been up to the past three days. I hope you found somewhere comfortable to sit- it’s going to be a long one.

Friday- our last day of mandatory full-group visits (we have some optional group visits this coming week). My group went to visit Ohio State Government Affairs, the Supreme Court, met with former representative Henry Bonilla, and went to Widmeyer Communication. This was the day I was most looking forward to and it did not disappoint, though it did get off to a rocky start. A couple of the group members were 30 minutes late in getting down to the lobby so we could leave for the day! I was incredibly frustrated by this as they did not even seem sorry. Luckily, we still made it to OSU Government Affairs on time and the visit went smoothly. We learned about the lobbying for higher education they do in DC on behalf of Ohio State. Even though I am not interested in becoming a lobbyist, I still feel like a learned a lot. Stacy Rastauskas, Associate VP, and Bill Couch, Associate Director, both had a lot of previous experiences before coming to the government affairs office. Our next stop was my favorite one- the Supreme Court of the United States. It is my ultimate goal to intern there next summer, but we’ll see how the next year goes. We were given a lecture about the history of the Court in the courtroom, which was incredible. To actually sit in the courtroom where they hear cases was awe-inspiring. We learned where the public, previous justices, reporters, and guests of the Court sit. Of course we also touched on the seating arrangements by seniority of the justices, but I already knew this. After the lecture, we met with two of Justice Alito’s law clerks- Paul and Maureen. Since their job is one I would like to have someday, I was excited to meet with them. We started with a behind-the-scenes tour of the courthouse and saw the brown-bag lunch room where the Justice’s eat together, the law library, basketball court and gym, and function rooms. The building is absolutely gorgeous, with outdoor courtyards in the interior, sheltered form public view. There is a running joke at the courthouse about the basketball court being the “highest court in the land” because it is directly above the courtroom. We then all sat in the meeting room with the clerks to learn more about there job. Both came from good law schools and private law before coming to the Supreme Court. Maureen worked in white-collar crime for Sidley Austin, which I am seeing tomorrow. Paul went to Harvard and Maureen went to Georgetown. I asked what tips they would have for someone who wanted to clerk and this was there response:
-If applying to clerk at the Supreme Court, have previous clerking experience. -Get into a good law school and graduate at the top of your class.                           -Really work on developing your writing skills; writing is the most important skill to have. It helps if you can get published.

Our next visit was with former Texas representative Henry Banilla. He currently does lobbying and was actually really cool to meet with. As a former congressman, he could speak to us freely about his opinions without really worrying about politics. He talked at length about how polarizing Washington has gotten, and that is not necessarily due to the politicians themselves. He spoke of constituents who spouted radical ideas for both sides of the aisle, which made it difficult for politicians to come to a middle ground. He used this point to highlight the growing “dumbing” of America, which I happen to agree with. People are usually not willing to compromise and do not know the true meaning of sacrifice. Our final visit with Widmeyer Communications was also interesting. Widmeyer is a small firm, that deals with public affairs and relations for companies. While they are not a lobbying firm, they do occasionally work with a company’s lobbyists. We met with Christina Saull, VP of Widmeyer, and Julie Walsh, Senior Account Executive.

Sarah, Lindsey, Ashley, and I had a busy day on Saturday. We started by going to the Madison building so Sarah and I could get reader cards for the Library of Congress. This gives us access to their main research rooms- which you can usually only look at from above! I am really hoping I get a chance to use it on Friday! That’s pretty much the only day I have enough time to devote to LoC research. We then headed to the United Kingdom Embassy, as all EU Embassies had an open house that day. It took FOREVER to get there- it required a lot more walking than we though it would and the security lines were very long. We got to see the ambassador’s house and gardens, which were gorgeous. I loved listening to the staff, they all had British accents and due to my love of British TV, I was in heaven. They put on a Shakespeare play on the patio. I think I could actually get in to Shakespeare if I could see it live. I won a hat from their Scotland booth and picked up some tourist booklets. Then, we hoped on the shuttle to Dupont Circle before transferring to a different shuttle to get to the French and German embassies. These were way out by Georgetown and took about 45 minutes to get through. After another 20 minutes in the security line, we managed to get inside. Things were winding down by this point, but we still napped some flags, pens, and even a free T-shirt! It started to rain so we started walking and eventually took a cab to get to Clyde’s, a restaurant in Georgetown. Sarah and I had a $30 gift card that we won from the scavenger hunt last Monday, so we basically got free dinner. I had a delicious turkey burger and fresh fruit. After eating, we all walked around Georgetown for a bit and I saw a small, antique looking frame that I bought for mom. We then got Sprinkles before heading home. Though Sarah and Lindsey were less than impressed, Sprinkles has better cupcakes than Georgetown Cupcakes, in my opinion.

Today, Ashley and I headed to the Newseum, one of my favorite places in DC! We spent about 4 hours there before getting Starbucks and chatting for a bit. Since my ticket is good for two days, I gave it to Sarah to use tomorrow. For the rest of the night, I will be prepping for my first day of individual visits tomorrow, and let me tell you, I absolutely cannot wait!

As the week goes on, it gets more and more difficult to wake up and get through all the meetings we have every day. The days move quickly and interacting with the large amount of new people we meet takes a lot out of you. Even though the day I am most looking forward to is tomorrow, I find myself really looking forward to the weekend, and a break. Even with the exhaustion, today was still my favorite day so far. This mainly had to do with our first visit of the day, to Broadcasting Board of Governor’s (BBG)/ Voice of America (VOA).

We walked into a meeting room and there were folders with information about VOA and BBG. It included our visit schedule and several information sheets about their work, countries they operate in, and Internet censorship around the world. What made the visit particularly interesting was the quality of discussion we were able to have with the VOA staff. They organized a panel discussion for us that included their Chief of the Khmer (Cambodia) Division, Chris Decherd; Digital Media Coordinator/Reporter also in Khmer, Sophat Soeung; Executive Producer of the South and Central Asia Division, Susan Shand; and Public Affairs Director, Letitia King. The conversations we had with them were absolutely fantastic. We learned about Sophat’s experience growing up in Cambodia and becoming a journalist in the US, Chris’s tenure as a journalist in Cambodia for a number of years, and Susan’s life as an international correspondent for CBS before beginning her own freelance business that worked with foreign press offices.

We discussed America’s seemingly lack of interest in world news, which everyone agreed would change as the increasing interconnectedness of the world means that employers are going to be looking for people informed about what is happening throughout the world. Susan mainly blamed the media for America’s apparent lack of international interest. She mentioned that networks value money making (people on opposing sides arguing for entertainment value, etc.) over international content and that this will change as viewers lose interest in that kind of low-quality television.

We also discussed the challenges VOA faces in getting news to non press-friendly countries. VOA uses TV, radio, and internet to spread their content, however certain countries, North Korea for example, can only have access to radio. We were told that journalists and their families have been targeted by governments and regimes to discourage VOA presence. This behavior led to the reduction of VOA’s content in Russia- they can no longer have TV programs there.

We were also given a tour of the studio, which was really cool to see. They have programs 24/7 and one of the live broadcasts we saw was for Afghanistan!. These reporters become famous in the countries they stream too. I did not know that the government VOA and other BBG programs were so helpful in creating more balanced news in foreign, typically closed off countries. I will definitely need to look at more of their content in the future.

After that meeting, we went to US Citizen and Immigration Services. That was cool because immigration is such a hotly contested topic, so getting an inside look at the organization that handles it was intriguing. Apparently, USCIS has no say over the development of legislation that controls them, they are just responsible for implementing it. I imagine that it can be difficult to be a career federal employee there (i.e. not appointed by the party in office and not necessarily forced into a job change with changing parties in power). You have to listen to what the controlling party wants the organization’s mission to be and that sets the tone for how it operates.

We had about 3 hours until our next visit, so Sarah, Maddie, and I went to a local place called the West Wing Cafe. We then took the metro over to the Air and Space Museum. Unfortunately, there were way too many school groups there so we spent most of our time in the gift shop. Luckily for me, the original USS-Enterprise was on display! I am quite the Trekkie, so being able to see the original prop from the 1960s was so cool! I ended up buying Shatner’s memoir from his Star Trek era and another book on time-travel. I also bought my dad a mug to add to his collection, but this one had the history and information about a fighter plane. I know he’ll enjoy that.

Our final visit of the day was with Representative Beatty. Unfortunately, she could not take too long to speak with us because she had to go vote on some legislation. We ended up speaking with one of her staffers. She had a lot of good information and tips to share. I just wish I hadn’t been so tired by the end of the day so I could’ve asked more questions! I found it interesting when she mentioned the difference between operating in a state vs. federal government position. It was something I had never really thought about. At the federal level, congress members rely on their staff to inform them of bills and other important information whereas at the state level, the elected official will read everything themselves and then give the information to their staff.

As the second day of professional visits concluded, I could definitely feel fatigue setting in. Thankfully, I have a couple hours to relax and get food before heading out to see the monuments at night! As tired as I am, I really want to make sure I take advantage of everything this trip has to offer.

We began our day with a visit to Senator Portman. I thought that we were going to have a group meeting with him, but this was not the case. I learned that Senator Portman holds constituent breakfasts on Wednesdays, where he makes a few remarks and takes photos with visitors. Then we were able to get a tour of the Capitol building from on the the staffers. This was actually kind of interesting- we were able to see a few speeches in the House of Representatives. It’s called morning hour and congressmen and women can make speeches during this time. It had limited attendance, so when I asked why they bother with the speeches at all, I was told that the representatives like to have video of it to put on their websites. The speeches can be on a variety of topics; the one we saw this morning was about the history of Mother’s Day! We finished our tour by hitting all the main stops in the Capitol, all of which I had seen in my previous visits. Unfortunately they’re doing a lot of restoration on the dome so it was covered by a tarp and there was scaffolding around the room. When this concluded, we met with Representative Stivers on the steps of the Capitol. We spoke with him for a few minutes, took a picture, and then headed to lunch.

I found my self looking towards the afternoon meetings more and more. I felt like we were doing just touristy things in the morning, and that is not the point of this trip. After lunch, we had some time so we headed to the Library of Congress. I never tire of going to visit there. My favorite spots are the main research room (which you can only enter with a research pass) and Thomas Jefferson’s library. As a book lover, Jefferson’s library is always awe-inspiring to me. He has such a vast collection- everything from poetry and philosophy to botany and anatomy. I like that he had such a wide range of interests and knew the value of pursuing many types of knowledge. When I saw a few Shakespeare books in his library, I paused and came to the realization that books are perhaps the best way we have to remain immortal. Just think about it- Jefferson read Shakespeare, who wrote the play he was reading hundreds of years earlier. Hundreds of years after Jefferson, we are still reading Shakespeare and looking at Jefferson’s copies of those works. That fact is just astounding.

After the Library, we headed to the Ford Building to meet a staff member named Bradley Saull who works on policy for the House Committee on Homeland Security. He does really interesting work, but what I found the most interesting was the path he took to that job. He graduated from OSU 10 years ago with a business degree. Then, he interned for the White House, worked as a paralegal in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, worked at a private company, and then began his current job. I have found this to be common amongst young people, especially those who move to DC. I think it really helps foster the idea that you can do anything you want and you’re not necessarily stuck to one career for the rest of your life. A reassuring thought to someone like me who is trying to figure out what they want to do with their life.

Our final visit of the day was the one I was most looking forward to, the Washington Post. We were given a tour of their news floors; met with their political editor and digital strategy person; and were able to sit in on the editorial meeting at 4 pm. I found it interesting that the editors really only focus on print in the afternoon and throughout the night. The rest of the day is spent writing or updating stories, uploading said stories to the internet, and utilizing social media to expand their reach. Learning about the changes the Washington Post has made to become more digitally friendly was interesting. The political editor told us even though they can expand their reach online, the stories are different. He said that the stories which are important and take up a lot of front page room in the newspaper are less popular on the Internet and the more trivial, unimportant stories get more hits. This is something facing every single print publication today and will continue to be a source of uncertainty.

Well, my stomach is growling at me so I guess it’s time to get dinner and then tour the monuments. Stay tuned for my thoughts on tomorrow’s visits to Voice of America, Immigration Services, and a meeting with Representative Beatty!

Today was our first day of professional visits! Though long, it was a great way to begin the professional portion of this trip and get me ready for the next two weeks. The Scholars DC cohort (20 students total) is split into two groups for every day of professional visits this week. Sarah was not in my group today, and they had to leave at 7:15 am! I lucked out and my group did not leave until 8:30 this morning. So I had a little extra time to sleep in 🙂

Our first stop of the day was the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC. Though we only spent about an hour there, I feel like I have a much better idea about the role the federal government plays in our methods of communication. We began our time there with a presentation about the history of communication and the FCC. Bob Cannon, senior counsel in Internet law, presented this. He had a wealth of knowledge about the history of communication and how the FCC has had to try to regulate the market. He told us that they are currently facing some court action regarding the Open Internet Rules, which they are trying to implement to improve internet use for citizens. We also met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, an OSU alum. He was very passionate about his job and had some great advice for us. In what turned out to be a recurring theme throughout the rest of our day, Wheeler told us that we had to be willing to work harder than everyone else to be successful and not to go through life with a “step-by-step” plan. What I found really interesting was when Wheeler talked to us about the Open Internet Rule and how he has been getting some serious backlash from it. He appeared to take it all in stride and even welcomed the criticism, saying that it forced the FCC to develop a better policy. That kind of attitude and awareness makes for a really effective leader. I can see why Wheeler was out into the chairman position.

Our next stop was at the Department of State. I was very excited for this stop as our Secretary of State, John Kerry, hails from my home state of Massachusetts. I even know where his house is! Unfortunately, we were not able to see him in-person, but the visit was still incredibly cool and very informative. We were able to sit in on the daily briefing the State Department holds. We had to sit in the last row, so as not to disturb the journalists attending the briefing, but we were still plenty close to the action. The briefing mainly covered Nigeria and Ukraine. I was amazed at how calm, cool, and collected State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki was. Reporters were firing questions at her and some were quite pushy if they did not receive what they felt was a good enough answer. Of course, any good journalist should do this, but some were more abrasive about it. You could definitely tell that Psaki knew which reporters were going to be more combative and I was impressed that she knew everyone’s name! I was also intrigued to see the Psaki had a huge binder with her that apparently had all the information she could need about every topic. The amount of work it must take to compile that sort of information is intimidating. You clearly have to know what you’re talking about and be very careful with how you phrase things. You are the voice of the State Department, after all.

After the briefing concluded, a woman named Nicole led us to the cafeteria to grab a quick lunch before bringing us back upstairs to one of the meeting rooms. Once settled, we met with another spokesperson, named Marie Harf. We had excellent conversation with her about how she ended up working for the State Department. She told us about her four-month internship at the State Department offices in New York  before her time in grad school at UVA led to a job at the CIA. She also worked on Obama’s 2012 campaign and let us in on a little more insight on the political culture of campaigns and DC. Harf mentioned that you never know how hard you can work until you work for a campaign because you are working for something you are passionate about. She also told us about how everyone is usually unemployed and looking for work after a campaign ends and that people in DC tend to jump around from job to job. I think that would actually be a good environment for me. I like stability as much as the next person, but I get bored after doing something for awhile and when that happens, I take it upon myself to make a change.

Discovering that we had some extra time before we had to head to our last stop of the day, my group decided to take the long walk from the State Department to Georgetown. I really wish they would put a metro stop at Georgetown and it seems stupid to me that they don’t, but I digress. We managed to get to my favorite DC cupcake place, Sprinkles, and I bought a delectable vanilla chocolate cupcake. I know people go crazy over Georgetown Cupcakes, but in my opinion, Sprinkles is superior. The walk was so worth it.

Our last stop of the day was at NPR. We got a tour of the building and saw the studios where their live radio show was happening! It was so cool to see how that was organized and run, and how important the timing of segments is. After that, we spoke with NPR’s White House correspondent Tamara Keith. She had a wealth in experience and stories for us. It was definitely an entertaining meeting! One of the biggest things I tool away from it was that if you want something, don’t give up. She told us that being NPR’s White House Correspondent was the job she has always wanted. Keith went on further to say that even though it took her 15 years, and most other people would have given up, she kept working hard. I’ll have to take that lesson with me. If I want a particular job, I have to keep working towards it, while also being open to other, and perhaps even better, opportunities.