For me, D.C. is the city that never sleeps. 

Along with writing this blog and participating in my internship, The Washington Center keeps me plenty busy.  Since I have not explained many of the specifics of the program, this post explains more specifically the logistics of what the program entails.

As part of TWC program, we have Monday programming in the afternoons. This is where we will listen to a variety of lectures given by businessmen/politicians in D.C.  We usually meet in different parts of the city in different buildings.  For example, this past Monday we listened to James Steinberg, the Deputy Secretary of State at the Department of the Interior.  After giving the lecture on the topic du jour, the speaker generously takes questions from the students. 
 
Words of Wisdom for participating in Monday programming: Listen carefully because the speakers are usually very important people with a variety of experiences.  And also breathe deeply when your long-winded peers stand up to ask a question.  Remember that they deserve some respect for standing up in front of a microphone and asking a question in front of a few hundred people...regardless of how long it takes them to ask it.

Also, as part of TWC program the students turn in a portfolio that includes various assignments to be completed throughout the semester.  For example, we have an “Individual Development Plan” that outlines our life goals and our goals for our time here.  Similarly, we write an updated resume and cover letter for future use which is reviewed by our advisors at The Washington Center.  Also as part of this portfolio, we include a summary of an informational interview with someone from D.C. who is of interest.  The person I interviewed (who will remain nameless for the sake of privacy) gave me some great life advice over lunch, and he was even so kind as to get me a ticket to see the Supreme Court in action on March 29.

Words of Wisdom: This entire portfolio is what you make of it.  So it is probably easy to slack off and make up goals for the Individual Development Plan and to interview the guy on the Metro just because he is sitting next to you.  But it is equally easy to approach the portfolio with the attitude that you can use the assignments to sort through what career path truly interests you.   

In addition to these aspects of the program, academic courses are offered through TWC as well.  Wake requires that its students take one evening course, so mine is on Tuesdays from 6-9 p.m.  TWC offers a variety of courses, and the courses here are often taught by professionals in their fields who can give great insights to the students.  I am taking “Peaceful Solutions” with Colman McCarthy, a former writer for the Washington Post.  The class itself is not extremely rigorous (which I appreciate given the amount of time that my internship takes up), but the perspectives in the class are widely varying and different from any perspectives that I would get at WFU. 

Words of Wisdom: Pick a topic that interests you, and then your course session will be some of the best 3 hours of your week. 

For all you Wake Forest students reading this, we also are required to do an independent study/directed reading with a WFU professor.  This can be anything you want it to be--I’m doing a study on the separation of church and state and I’m communicating via email with my professor.  I am writing 3 papers and I am writing weekly reflections on readings.  Also, I am going to lectures that are related to my topic and writing a summary of the event as a "participation" aspect of the directed reading. 

My Words of Wisdom to the Wake kids: pick a professor who understands that this independent study is not your primary focus of your time in D.C.  Luckily the professor who is working with me is very understanding of the program and has been very flexible with me, and I really do not know what I would do if I needed to spend extended periods of time on this independent study.

Well, that’s the program in a nutshell.  My next blog will be back to more details on my adventures.  Until then, I’ll be staying very, very busy.  But as my mom says, a busy girl’s a happy girl!

So sorry to those of you who are reading my blog expecting to hear of more of my experiences in D.C., but I wanted to make sure to discuss the nitpicky details of TWC program. 

Que Sera Sera.