The following blog post was written by Peer Advisor Sammi, an SMPA junior studying political communication and art history. Sammi is also currently abroad this semester in Florence. You can learn more about her here.
My study abroad preparation began a few months into my freshman year at GW. Being the type-A planner that I am, I started to research study abroad programs for the spring semester of my junior year before I even knew what I was doing with my life for the next semester. Over the next few years, I decided on a program, arranged my four-year plan to fit study abroad (see they are helpful!) and applyied to my program. After being accepted to my program in late August, I began researching packing lists and advice for studying in Florence and studying abroad as a whole.
All of that being said, there are many things that I did not plan for in my multi-year study abroad preparation. I am going to share a few pieces of advice that either nobody told me before going abroad or that I heard but did not take to heart. Hopefully by reading this, you will be spared some of these difficulties (albeit minor difficulties) in your own study abroad experience. If not, I hope you will be amused by my random stories (see #2). Here we go…
#1: Document your time abroad
You have probably heard this a million times. So have I. Yet, when I arrived in Florence, I forgot entirely about my nice leather journal I got for Christmas and only took my camera with me on weekend trips. Documenting the day-to-day activities, even if it is just what you eat (I would love to have had a tally of how many slices of pizza I have had), helps you remember the days that comprise your everyday study abroad life. I have only been in Florence for five weeks, but I am already forgetting what I did in the days before I started classes. Find a medium that works for you—private journal, online blog, photography, video—and stick to it. You will be thankful for this when you get home and your family asks you what you did while abroad. I have a million pictures from this “Sound of Music” tour I went on in Mondsee, Austria (because the scenery was gorgeous) and other weekend trips, but only a handful from my days in Florence.
#2: You will miss American food/snacks
Everyone has that one snack that you would willingly eat for the rest of your life. For me, that is Hot Cheetos. After a few weeks of trying to decipher what the Italian snacks at the supermarket were, I started to miss my Hot Cheetos, which are nowhere to be found in Europe. I am lucky enough to have a few people visiting me from the US throughout the semester that will supply my Hot Cheetos need. I also had no idea how much I would miss burgers. Most of my meals during my weekend in Paris were burgers and fries (I know, pathetic) because I had not seen them in Florence. Now, I know of three restaurants within a five minute walk from my apartment that serve good burgers for those days I start missing American food. Before you go abroad, look up what items aren’t sold in your study abroad location (peanut butter, ranch dressing, Hot Cheetos, etc.) and decide whether you realistically can live without them for a semester. If not, pack some with you before you leave.
On a rainy day, I decided to explore some of Florence and I caught a photo of this saxophonist playing “La Vie en Rose” outside the Duomo. Now, I stop to listen every time I see him.
#3: Dedicate time to explore your home city
This lesson is one that I repeatedly told myself I would abide by before arriving in Florence and one that I find to be extremely important. There is a reason you are choosing to study abroad in a certain city, so make sure you give yourself the chance to explore it. I made a plan to travel at most every other weekend so that I could spend my other weekends exploring Florence and surrounding Tuscan towns. Despite this plan, I have traveled 4/5 of the weekends that I have been abroad. Although it has been absolutely amazing to visit cities like Budapest and Paris, I have not allotted the same time to enjoy the equally amazing city of Florence. Either travel less on the weekends (your bank account will be happy about this, too) or set aside a few hours every week to explore a new neighborhood—going into shops, trying out restaurants and visiting museums.
Studying abroad is a privilege that most people are unable to experience. While it may feel like it is a norm at GW, it is important not to take this opportunity for granted. These lessons are by no means life changing or even in the top 10 pieces of advice for study abroad. However, they have helped me, and hopefully will help you, make the most out of our time abroad.
Category: Student Voices
#HonorsProblems: On being a high achiever who doesn’t fit the GW mold
The following blog post was written by Peer Advisor Kate, a CCAS sophomore studying statistics. You can learn more about Kate here.
Everyone knows one: the perfect archetype of the GW student. This student is majoring in Political Science, or International Affairs, or, if they’re particularly ambitious, both. Their Instagram is all monument pictures. They have a favorite Supreme Court Justice; they already support someone’s 2020 campaign. They attended the DNC, are currently working at multiple think-tanks, and have interned on the Hill. Twice.
For those of us who don’t fit this image, it can often feel like we’re not doing enough to keep up. Honors students tend to care about academic success. However, how can we measure our achievements if they don’t look like this university’s image of success? As a Statistics major, I’ve learned that my victories often aren’t exactly the same as everyone else’s—and that’s okay. So here’s a few tips on how to stop comparing yourself to others and celebrate your own achievements.
Look for Strengths in Different Areas
I’ve found that students (especially Honors students) who worry about how much they’re doing actually already have plenty of accomplishments. Many of us just don’t know where to look. It’s obvious that a Hillternship can go on your resume as experience. But have you considered that your student org involvement can provide valuable skills, too? I used to worry about not having done enough, until a fellow peer advisor pointed out that being an RA is an accomplishment to be proud of. I had to look to my residential experience instead of my professional experience to see that I am successful—just in different ways than my friends.
Make a Plan
If you’re in a field that’s not typically GW (like Statistics), typical career advice may not be applicable to you. Investigate what you need to be successful on your chosen path. Do you need to go to grad school? What classes should you be taking? Are internships important to your field, or is something else weighted more heavily? For me, I’ve realized that the most important part of my resume is not job experience, but the statistical packages I can program in. See if there are similar norms in your discipline.
Sometimes, You Come First
Taking care of yourself should be a student’s first priority. No one can take classes, work, be in student orgs, maintain friendships, or balance any other commitments we encounter, unless you’re mentally and physically healthy first. Be conscious of yourself and your needs. If comparing yourself to someone makes you feel like you need an internship, but you can barely handle your classes as is, guess what: you shouldn’t take an internship. Your needs are different than that student’s, and that’s okay.
Similarly, it’s okay to prioritize what you want instead of what you “should” want. Next year I will be an RA on the Vern. I’ve been told I shouldn’t take the position because I should stay on Foggy Bottom—but I love being an RA, I love the honors community, and I love working with freshmen. I’ve realized that my passions don’t have to align with the choices that others would make.
Conclusion- Stop Comparing Apples to Oranges
In summary, if you’re not the typical GW student, by golly, stop feeling bad about it. You’re great too. Look for other accomplishments, figure out how to be successful in your discipline, and take care of yourself. You’re going to be fine. I believe in you!
Intern Files: Tammy for Illinois
The following blog post was written by Peer Advisor Benji, an SMPA junior studying Political Communication. You can learn more about Benji here.
It was easy to overlook in the craziness of this past presidential election, but there were lots of exciting campaigns all the way down the ballot. Over the summer, I had the privilege of being a part of one of those races. As the press intern for Tammy for Illinois, I worked closely with members of the communications team to get Tammy Duckworth elected to the U.S. Senate.
A campaign press internship is a fast paced, tiring, and often thankless job. I’d be the first person in the office in the morning to send out an email with important news that is going to be driving the day’s conversation, and one of the last people to leave after making sure there was no breaking news – a rarity during this election cycle. In between, most of my time was spent media monitoring: scouring various news sites and social media for any mentions of my candidate or her opponent. Throughout the summer I also participated in the various traditions of campaign life: marching in parades, stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors, and most importantly asking people for money. Calling up complete strangers to solicit donations is a surprisingly useful skill!
The best parts of my internship were the chances I got to write speeches, statements, and op-eds. It’s extremely challenging to write in someone else’s voice, learning how to match their cadence and speaking quirks, but the feeling of seeing your work printed in the paper and hearing the candidate deliver your words makes it all worth it. In my time working for Tammy I wrote on subjects as varied as Wall Street regulations and subsidies for corn growers. That’s one of the things I liked best about working on a campaign; so many different topics are covered and so many crazy things can happen that every day at work is unique.
As a political communications major in the School of Media and Public Affairs, the material I learned in class was directly applicable to the work I did for my internship. But you don’t have to be an SMPA student to have a successful career in politics. In fact, I picked up some of the most important abilities in my Honors classes. As annoying as it was to see red ink splattered across my Origins papers, my professor’s critiques made my writing shaper and more concise – essential traits for political writing. Additionally, the Honors Program developed my critical thinking skills, so I could cut through the boatload of information floating in the news and pick out the issues that actually mattered. I even managed to work a Plato reference into a speech!
Even though the next election seems so far away, its vital to realize that there are campaigns all the time for local races. It’s here that many of the most impactful decisions are made. So if you’re upset about the current state of American politics, hop on a campaign and elect people up and down the ballot that stand for the values you care about. As Aristotle pointed out, we are all “political animals”, and there’s no better way to tap into that natural instinct than by working on a campaign.
Study Ablog: From Dublin with Love
The following blog post was written by peer advisor Eamonn, an ESIA junior studying international affairs and philosophy.
I embarked on my semester abroad at Trinity College Dublin having spent my first two years of college in Washington D.C. at the George Washington University. Washington is a vibrantly cosmopolitan city, featuring an effervescent milieu of ethnicities, occupations, creeds and political perspectives. Like the city it occupies, George Washington is an intellectually diverse institution, with students and faculty drawn from across the globe. Yet for my first two years of school, I was utterly negligent of these assets offered by city and college alike. Painfully obsessed with getting ahead, I drastically abridged the possibilities of student life. My semester at Trinity was an immense achievement precisely because it stood opposed to the narrow conformism I had let myself sink into back home. At Trinity, I rediscovered my intellectual, cultural and social freedom. At Trinity, I became a better, fuller person.
Intellectually, Trinity was diametrically different from my experience at George Washington. Foremost, my international affairs major was nonexistent there. Entitled to enroll and receive credit for courses across the swathe of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, I ended up taking classes far beyond the pale of my usual studies: imperial Roman history, contemporary theories of ethics, and the philosophical foundations of monotheism. Alongside my more standard fare of modern history and political science, this diverse combination of classes was immeasurably broadening and enriching. I learned new methods of critical analysis, new mediums to express argument in and essentially, new ways of thinking. Many of these classes hold no formal relevance to IA, but for that very reason, have enhanced my understanding of it. Without making the decision to go abroad and enter a new academic environment, I never would have had the courage to break the traditional confines of my studies.
Culturally, I became conscious for the first time. Never one to deviate from my favorite haunts and daily routines at home, studying in Dublin motivated me to participate in a wider world. Without familiar habits to collapse into, I went out to see the astonishing country I was living in. I came to love Ireland’s primal beauty, became attuned to the nuances, contradictions and energy of Ireland’s people and engendered an appreciation of how the Irish consider themselves before history’s arc. I hiked across the country’s rugged, lonely hills, spoke, laughed, ate with its occupants in cities across the island, and pondered the successes and tragedies that clothe Ireland at the nation’s chief heritage sites. These were accomplishments I was hardly aware could be had back in Washington. Now I am brimming with eagerness to turn this newfound cultural sensibility towards home. I am likely to find startling things in familiar places because of it.
Socially, Ireland challenged me in ways I was completely unaccustomed to. For the last two years, I have had a consistent circle of friends and an unswerving daily habit. For the most recent four months, I was separated from my friends, connected through only a shaky phone service to my girlfriend, and denuded of the little things that created normality in my life, from my preferred breakfast cereal to how I pay for meals at a restaurant (unless you practically simulate having a stroke don’t expect the waiter’s attention). These changes were jarring, at times, tormenting. Yet they were in finality salutary, giving me poise and resourcefulness. Further, Ireland made me more empathetic. Denied my familiar relationships. I went out to create unfamiliar ones. This led me to play soccer with the Trinity team, to go cheer on vying Gaelic Football clubs with the locals at their pubs, and to form friendships with students studying abroad from around the globe. In these efforts, I could not simply rely on mutually shared values or understandings. I had to genuinely work to appreciate what someone found serious, what they found funny, what made them cry, and what made them get up every morning. Doing this was at times awkwardly unsuccessful, but it was conclusively rewarding.
I went abroad to Ireland with a vague desire to change my surroundings. I came back with the clear knowledge of having changed myself for the better. My mind is broader and sharper, my social horizons more diverse and flexible, and my commitments in the world imbued with a sense of the universal. This last element, so difficult to explain, but so important to what I have become, was defining of my time in Ireland. It is a sentiment begotten by my experience abroad, an intuition that through the intellectual, cultural and social differences I have witnessed, I now have a more complete idea of how we are all the same. It is this similarity, a mutuality of dignity, compassion, suffering and resilience, which I take away as not only fundamental to my immediate future, but to my character. In this sense, studying abroad was life-changing.
#HonorsProblems: Be Weird, and Be Better for It
The following blog post was written by Aaron, a junior in the Elliott School studying conflict resolution and psychology. Aaron is also the peer advisor training coordinator! You can learn more about him here.
“You’ve got to embrace your inner strange, man. Just be weird.” – Willoughby, Everybody Wants Some
I play Dungeons and Dragons. There it is. It’s not something I’ve done forever – I played for the first time over last summer, had a blast, and now I play once a week with a group of friends.
I’ve always loved fantasy worlds. Marvel, DC, Harry Potter and beyond – you name it and I’ve probably spent a bit of time in that universe. I’ve fallen in love with movies, books, and comics.
As a new player, I quickly found the game to be incredibly social, interactive, and pushing me out of my comfort zone. In fact, I would go so far to say that it is one of the most creatively challenging things I’ve ever done. It was very difficult to communicate the rush of excitement over this discovery of a new passion to people who didn’t understand, even those who shared similar passions to those I mentioned above. I was ready for some awkwardness, but I quickly began to feel embarrassed. I was teased. Their perceptions of the game completely contrasted with my experience.
While rock climbing with one of the guys I play with – talk about the last thing you’d expect two DnD players to be up to on a rainy Saturday in DC – he shared that he rarely discussed the game with friends who didn’t play.
For me, keeping something that had brought me such an important dimension of creativity, imagination, and happiness to myself is not acceptable. Our quirky passions define us. They give us a reprieve from the stresses of the world and our more practical passions. Even more importantly, they often enhance skillsets that we don’t use in our schoolwork and other areas of life, creating a well-rounded self. These things should not be hidden – they should be celebrated. Be proud of the “weird” things you do because they make you happy in ways that “normal” things cannot. Embrace them. Share your stories and encourage others to share the passions they keep to themselves. Try someone’s passion and invite him or her to try yours.
GW is an incredible environment for career-minded individuals and those passionate about their academics. If not the first, I fall deeply into that second category. Having a passion so detached from my schoolwork is imperative to my academic success. For three hours every Saturday, I make the choice to forget about my homework, or the paper due on Tuesday, and lose myself in a character and a world. I laugh with my friends and think critically about imaginary situations. When we resurface at the end of a session, I feel refreshed and sharper, more prepared for the week of work ahead.
I didn’t discover DnD until seven months ago. If you feel you are lacking something similar, consider yourself incentivized to indulge curiosities and explore activities that you may have dismissed in the past. I never expected to find myself a DnD player, but here I am today, trying to derive greater meaning from something that makes me happy in the simplest of ways.
The Extra-Curricular: PLSA Publications – The GW Undergraduate Law Review & GW Justice Journal
The following blog post was written by peer advisor Zach, a CCAS junior studying history, law and society, and jazz studies. Zach is also on the pre-law track and wrote an amazing blog post last year about all things pre-law at GW! You can learn more about Zach here.
Happy finals week, UHPers! Today, I’m taking a break from finals studying and paper writing to tell you all about an incredible, unique opportunity on GW’s campus for anyone interested in law, policy, politics, history, philosophy, and the like. I’m referring to the two publications of the GW Pre-Law Student Association, the Undergraduate Law Review and the GW Justice Journal. Both provide incredible opportunities for students with great ideas to get them published in a professional platform that can be marketed for jobs, internships, etc.
The GW Undergraduate Law Review (ULR) is the premier publication of the Pre-Law Student Association and one of only about twenty law reviews of its kind in the nation. Writers and editors apply within the first three weeks of the academic year and work throughout the year to research, draft, revise, and publish their pieces. Each year, the ULR publishes approximately ten to fifteen full-length law review articles, composed and edited entirely by GW students, while most other undergraduate law reviews solicit articles from the general public, including other student authors around the country. We additionally pride ourselves on the use of Bluebook citation standards—the preferred citation system throughout the legal academy and profession, and a skill generally not taught until your first year of law school.
Do you want to suggest a new, more practical interpretation of the Mann Act? Do you think that the United States should do more to regulate offshore banking? Do you believe that the Supreme Court should have had a more active role in the Civil War? The ULR is the perfect place to spend a semester researching and then publish your work. We utilize a thorough process that you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else, and it’s a process that produces high-quality, polished work at the end of the semester. And, yes, you can write about anything you want—all of the above examples are topics from last year’s ULR!
The final publication is housed in Gelman Library, on the shelves of the American Bar Association Library, and catalogued in the Library of Congress. So, yes, it’s REAL publication! This year’s team is already assembled and well on its way towards the April publication deadline, but stay tuned for next year’s application process! You can peruse past editions of the ULR at http://www.gwprelaw.com/undergraduate-law-review-1 (check out my article on page 217 of last year’s edition!).
However, if you want to find a place to get your ideas out there RIGHT NOW, the GW Justice Journal may be the place for you. The Justice Journal is the PLSA’s blog for legal commentary, with pieces published by a staff of writers as well as guest writers. With the Justice Journal, you’ll have the opportunity to form your opinions into a succinct article and have a staff of editors revise and comment on your piece before publication.
Topics for the Justice Journal tend to be more current-event focused, but run the gamut from every end of the legal commentary spectrum. Recent articles have dealt with the flaws of the electoral college system, racial discrimination in jury selection, foreign NGOs in China, and prosecutorial oversight. Read them for yourself at http://www.gwjusticejournal.com, and email gwplsa@gmail.com if you’re interested in getting involved!
Additionally, the Justice Journal assembles its best pieces every year in the Legal Annual Review, which gets catalogued in Gelman and the Library of Congress right alongside the ULR.
What does writing for the ULR or the GW Justice Journal get you, you ask? For one thing, you get to put a “Publications” section on your resume, which makes you feel like a BOSS. For another, you get to give prospective employers and internship bosses a glimpse into how you think about critical issues as well as your research and writing skills. From personal experience, writing for the Law Review and the Justice Journal helped start conversations at my summer job, got me internships last semester and next semester, and makes law school admissions officers’ ears perk up.
If you’d like to get any more information about either of the PLSA’s publications, or about joining the PLSA in general, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at zsanders@gwmail.gwu.edu. I love talking about the Pre-Law opportunities we have here on campus, of which the PLSA publications are only a very small part.
The Intern Files: EMILY's List
The following blog post was written by peer advisor Delaney, an ESIA sophomore studying international affairs. Learn more about Delaney here.
I have always been a fan of the planning. In high school, I had weekly plans but also a broader monthly plan. I loved agendas, and I still do. My mom’s go-to Christmas gift to me each year is a wall calendar. It felt natural then that before coming to college, I should have a plan for my future. This plan formed midway through my junior year of high school when I discovered my love of international affairs. My plan was to major in international affairs, do all things international affairs and pursue internships with international foci. Basically, I wanted to follow a straight and narrow path toward my intended career as a diplomat for the United States.
When it came time to pursue my first internship, I maintained this line of thinking. By summer, I had a running list of about seven internships I thought I wanted to apply to. I applied and was accepted to one, which I was relatively happy with. The organization was international, but the department I was placed in did not particularly interest me. Nevertheless, I accepted the offer.
Just a couple days after interviewing with this organization, I stumbled across another internship per the suggestion of a friend. The internship was with EMILY’s List which, after a bit of research, I discovered was a domestic organization that aimed to help elect pro-choice, Democratic women into office, with a particular focus on millennial women and women of color. I loved these goals, but the organization was domestic, not international, hence a deviation from my original plan. Despite my concerns, I applied and two weeks later was offered a position on their State and Local Campaigns team.
Don’t get me wrong—I love domestic politics. I had been following the election since before the primary. I was the girl in high school who was teased about her vocal political views. My Facebook is littered with political posts, and I geeked out so hard over this election. By no means was I uninterested in domestic politics; I simply had intended to pursue a career in the international arena.
I had to make a decision. Should I forgo the opportunity to intern with an international organization in a not-so-great department to work for a domestic organization I had just become interested in a couple weeks prior? Was I seriously considering deviating from my plan?
After talking with my mom, consulting with friends from school, and some one-sided conversations with my dogs, I decided to back out of my internship at the initial international organization and accept my offer at EMILY’s List.
This decision was undoubtedly one of the best I’ve made thus far in my collegiate career. I joined a group (/network/family) of well-connected, wildly intelligent and passionate woman who genuinely care about their work. I experienced this election year in a manner I never thought possibly. I gained skills I will use for the rest of my career, participated in meaningful work, and had so much fun doing it.
One of my favorite memories from my internship was traveling with staff members and interns to the suburbs of Virginia for the weekend to encourage people to vote on election day. I woke up at the crack of dawn and sat in a small van, all the while discussing the election, our intended careers, our backgrounds, and our hopes for the future of the country, sharing laughs and small life stories. While knocking on doors, I met so many kind and interesting people and was able to bond with my colleagues in a very new way. Ultimately, adjusting my life plan to allow for an internship outside of my original goal afforded me so many unique opportunities like this one.
As it turns out, deviating from your initial plan and trusting your gut, your mom and your dogs is often the best option out there. There has not been a day I have regretted diverging from my plan, and in fact doing so has opened doors to international careers I had not previously considered. My advice: don’t be afraid to pursue opportunities that force you to adjust your original plan. You never know what doors will open and what experiences you’ll gain as a result!
#Honors Problems: My First 20 Page Paper
The following blog post was written by peer advisor Richie Beck, a SEAS sophomore on the pre-med track studying biomedical engineering. To learn more about Richie, see his full bio here.
A 10 page paper is easy. Five pages single spaced, use a bunch of block quotes, restate that wonderful work of art that is your thesis about 30 times, and make lots and lots of paragraphs. Simple, done and easy. But 20 pages is a whole different monster.
What your second semester of Origins does is give you a research paper on a 20th Century topic that you think you’re an expert at. Little do you know that the papers you read – when you begin your research at a max of two weeks prior – just blow all your novice ideas out of the water.
Your professor gives you practically the entire semester to work on and with your early semester positivity, you give yourself this plan that will make this 20 page paper an achievable feat. In hindsight that first plan is always the best.
With two weeks to go before my paper was due, I began my research and I was on this philosophy high that could only resonate with fellow Honors kids. I had my preliminary research done so I gave myself a break because it was just smooth sailing. That break turned into a week of not doing anything and procrastinating until everyone else in the class was finishing their papers and I hadn’t even written a single, coherent sentence. With a few days left, and no confidence in my abilities at all.
Each day was longer and longer and my progress wasn’t what I had planned. I was getting worried. I accepted the fact that I had to pull an all-nighter in order to finish this paper. This is something I would never recommend. Gelman at 4 AM is indescribable and with your delirium at its peak, you are reflecting on the poorest of your choices and anxious about the work you are supposed to be doing.
Walking out of Gelman that morning was a big hit to the ole self esteem, but I felt accomplished after finishing that paper.
Handing that paper in was the greatest feeling I had at GW because that was my blood, sweat and so many tears into one long paper. It made me truly understand the need for time management and putting in your 100% from day 1 of the semester.
I got a 94 on that paper and yes it went on my fridge.
The Intern Files: Randolph for Congress
The following blog post was written by peer advisor Kelsie, a CCAS sophomore studying political science and history. She also works in the UHP front office! You can learn more about Kelsie here.
I’m sure that everyone is just dying to read more about the elections of last week, but I’m here to share my own work experience during the historic 2016 cycle (keeping opinions to a bare minimum, I promise):
Last summer I worked on Susannah Randolph’s congressional campaign after I found a post looking for interns on the UCF Political Science Department website. This local election was a pretty big deal. Florida’s 9th congressional district covers a huge chunk of the state; the southeast side of Orlando, down into a generous portion of Osceola and Polk counties. The 9th district is a Democratic stronghold in Florida, with the blue candidate winning by 10 points or more in the past four elections. Alan Grayson was the two-term Representative for the district, but he left the seat to run for the Senate. The seat was open, without an incumbent, and whichever campaign won the primary election had a near certain general election win, the pressure was on.
At the beginning of the summer, most of the work I did was on a computer: compiling lists of potential voters, maintaining records of calls to donors, and researching opponents. Occasionally, I would help do ‘call time’ with donors, dialing numbers and passing calls on to Susannah.
Canvassing neighborhoods was the biggest portion of the work that I did. We would go out to different parts of the district, often driving about an hour out to Polk County on the weekends, to talk to voters. We knocked on doors and passed along information about the campaign and our candidate to voters. As the primary drew closer, we would go out almost every evening to neighborhoods in all three counties. Walking around in temperatures above 95 degrees was not the most pleasant thing to do, but I did enjoy the conversations that I had with enthusiastic voters. I learned a lot about the people that live in my community and what they wanted and needed from their representatives.
When absentee ballots were sent out, we started phonebanking every night to remind people to fill out and return their ballots. We also provided information about Susannah and answered questions about her platform. When early voting started, we called to help people make plans to vote, making sure that they know where their polling place was. I felt that this was probably the most impactful thing that I did during my time at the campaign; even if the people I spoke to didn’t vote for Susannah, hopefully they did go out to vote.
Ultimately, Susannah did not win the primary. We ended up with a respectable 28.2% of the vote in a four-way race. We did get the most votes in Polk County, which I am very proud of after having canvassed in the boiling Poinciana sun. Our opponent, Darren Soto, won the November election and went on to win the general election a week ago, keeping the district in Democratic hands.
In terms of life lessons, I learned a lot about communicating with other people. Making sure that the other person feels like they are being listened to is especially important. Voters are people, and people want to have their concerns heard. Also, I think I finally overcame the Millennial aversion to talking on the phone, it is a whole lot easier after hours and hours of practice with people that you don’t know.
The smaller sized campaign allowed me to some fantastic contacts with people who have already helped me out with future aspirations. My advice: if you do decide to stay home for a summer, make it an election year and get involved in your local politics, they really are important and an excellent learning experience.
The Extra Curricular: Resident Assistant
The following blog post was written by Aaron, a junior in the Elliott School studying conflict resolution and psychology. Aaron is also the peer advisor training coordinator! You can learn more about him here.
A Gladiator in Sweatpants with Sleepy Eyes
We all know Olivia Pope. She’s the fixer.
The one you go to with everything from the tiniest question to the monumental crisis. She’s got all the connections you think you need and even a few that you’ve never thought of trying. Most importantly, when you think you’ve had enough, she reminds you that you’re just as strong as anyone else and that together you can weather any storm.
She’s kind of like a resident advisor in college. Which is weird, because Kerry Washington WAS IN FACT an RA at GW.
As a resident advisor, I’ve had the unique privilege to be one of your live-in Olivia Popes. I act as a primary resource and a first line of defense in the residence halls. Knock or send us an email, and we’re there to answer questions, resolve conflicts, and support residents in their toughest challenges.
We’re also hiring.
So, I’d like to give you an insight into a job that has allowed me to grow as a leader, challenge myself, and meet some of my closest friends.
As a leader:
At the broadest level, being an RA drops you into a position where you have the freedom to implement your own style of leadership.
There are guidelines and building blocks provided in our training, but I feel that we are encouraged to learn the information and then apply it in the way that best allows each of us to use our diverse strengths. This is an ideal setting to try new things and learn how to be your best leader.
As a challenge:
Residents can plan all they want, but eventually many will encounter something they never expected. That’s when, as an RA, you really get to be there for someone. You need to think on your feet and be a creative problem solver. You need to know how to listen and support them.
I always have the full support of the Center for Student Engagement, but in those moments, what I say, what I do, and how I approach the problem can make a big difference in how that individual processes the situation.
This is not an easy thing to do. I can practice all I want, but it doesn’t compare to the real thing. To mediate a conflict or to sit in uncomfortable silence or to make a late-night phone call – it’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard. If it weren’t hard, everybody would be an RA. The hard is what makes it such a valuable experience. (See A League of Their Own for the origin of this paraphrasing.)
As a friend:
I had never encountered a team that was truly the epitome of the concept until I became an RA. My team, this year made up of the RAs in Potomac, is fluid and supportive. No ropes course can stand our communication skills or our ability to motivate each other. We often bounce ideas off each other and suggest new perspectives from which a problem might be tackled.
More than anything, I’m proud to call my teammates my friends. Just as we foster community in our building, we are a community in ourselves. Returning as a second year RA has given me the great opportunity to be a leader within this team, as well as make a second team’s worth of new friends.
I’m just one RA in a long line of RAs who have also been in the Honors program. It’s an invaluable opportunity. Applications open this week! Here’s the link to the application and the schedule for required information sessions! https://studentengagement.gwu.
* I chose to write this blog of my own volition. My views do not reflect those of the CSE. I simply wish to share my experience and encourage other UHP students to check it out!
