The following post was written by Peer Advisor Dylan, a sophomore in CCAS.
My biggest blunder in college was my circadian rhythm during the spring semester of my freshman year—and, to be honest, a good amount of the fall of my sophomore year. Growing up, both of my parents stayed up late, and for the most part, led very functioning lives. So how could I not be as successful, right?
In high school, I might stay up until 12, at the latest most week nights. I’d wake up at 7:30 and be out the door. Well, when I came to college I was faced with assignments and commitments that were new to me. My first semester at GW, fortunately, I was not taking on an arduous course load and although I didn’t go to bed in the timeliest fashion, I was able to average about 7 hours of sleep a night. (Although, I now know that you can’t “make up” for lost sleep, but that’s beside the point.)
Then the spring of 2015 came and I found myself in a constant state of misfortune. At “Paws Your Stress”. I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before in preparation for my Calculus exam. I ended up doing terribly, but the dogs were worth it.
I joined a good share of student organizations my first semester and by the time spring semester rolled around, my commitment in them increased greatly. Also, the classes I was now taking were posing to be a lot trickier than I originally planned. (Thank you Calc II!)
Although I was consistently strung out on caffeine to stand up, the following are some of the highlights of my semester:
I showed up to a class 45 minutes early so that I could take a nap and be sure that I would make it to class on time. My friends tried to wake me up, but it didn’t really work. The only thing that did was when the professor intervened and told me to “go home and get some sleep.”
I fell asleep during my Origins class on more than one occasion.
I was studying for a midterm that was supposed to being at 11:10. I ended up waking up at 12:00. (Fortunately, we ended up having a snow day.)
An example of the daily picture of Malah from my dad that got me through my day.
The only things that would get me through the dread were pictures of my dog. I thought this behavior was normal and the constant feeling of a kick to the head were normal. (They weren’t.) Refusing to go to bed all the time impacted my grades, my social circles, and the commitments I had to student organizations.
I am not saying that I have the best sleep habits, because I don’t. But I have begun making smarter decisions about when I start assignments to keep procrastination at bay. Or at what point to leave Gelman because staying up until 3 just to watch Buzzfeed videos is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle. And I have finally been able to experience coffee as a pleasure, instead of as a necessity.
The following post was written by Peer Advisor Sam, a CCAS junior double majoring in political science and communication.
A week into the semester and you’ve started questioning your course-load. “Why did I decide to take two WIDS at the same time?” “I don’t think I actually want to take acting as my GPAC arts credit.” “Was taking ALL the sciences this semester really such a great idea?”
You think about how you’re going to talk yourself through it. “I just need organization,” you might say. But soon you find yourself on the registrar’s website again, scrolling classes that seem perpetually full. Then you remember you’re in the Honors Program, and you have a sweet solution for this problem: CONTRACT COURSES! But do you qualify? Is it even possible? CAN IT BE DONE?!
As you freak out, the Honors Program gods (*Cough* Catherine and Mary *Cough*) shine a light down on you when you ask “Who can take these classes?” They mix fairy dust, love, and magic together when they sprinkle you with the answer “Anyone who is interested.”
So you think to yourself, “This is too good to be true.” You’ve realized that you can get credit for an internship, do independent research, or even find an Honors research assistantship. All you have to do is find a professor who will supervise your work and meet with you regularly to review your progress.
This sounds amazing. Incredibly, it turns out to be even better than you’ve originally anticipated. You find that professor who you connect with, you talk to the boss at your internship, and you start drafting ideas for an incredible paper. This paper helps you grow beyond that boring lecture you dropped. Your research makes you interesting to other students, faculty, and real-world folk. People start to ask about your research. Organizations and future internships become interested in you because you took initiative as an undergraduate. Future you looks back on current you and nods in approval.
Current you realizes that you need to take one of these classes immediately. So where do you start?Make an appointment with a Program Officer to talk specifics. Then, head on over to this page for some clarifying points, draft a proposal, and then jump right in to your new favorite semester. You done good, honors student.
The following post was written by Peer Advisor Zach, a sophomore History major minoring in Jazz Studies and Law & Society. Zach is also (spoiler alert) pre-law.
Happy New Year, UHP!
This week’s extracurricular is applicable to what I know to be a sizeable chunk of the Honors Program: individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in the legal field. As a Freshman entering GW with a defined career goal, I came to realize quickly that I knew little about how to approach my undergraduate career in a fashion that would advance my future interests most effectively. A year and a half later, I’m still figuring it out, but I certainly have a much better idea about what the #PreLawLife looks like. Below, I’ve compiled a survey of the multitudinous opportunities (mostly extracurricular, but some curricular as well) available to you as a GW student (and a UHP student) to advance your interests in Law.
A quick disclaimer: I’m a sophomore. I haven’t applied to law school yet. Who knows, I could be completely off my rocker with this stuff. Below is merely a summary of my experiences with the various Pre-Law organizations and opportunities that you might be interested in exploring. By no means are any of the below things that you should feel are “required” for your law school application. If you have any questions about the process of applying to law school, what’s required, and what’s not, get in touch with Michael Gabriel, GW’s Pre-Law Advisor, who can be reached at mgabriel@gwu.edu.
I’ll touch on four different items which have had an impact on my experience thus far and have helped me explore my interest in Law: my involvement with the Pre-Law Student Association and the Undergraduate Law Review, the GW Pre-Law Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta (Law Fraternity International), the Law & Society Minor, and an Honors course recommendation.
Let’s begin at the obvious starting point: The Pre-Law Student Association, a student group that seeks to educate undergraduates on the law school experience and expose students to the legal profession. I have been a member since the beginning of my Freshman year, and the experience has been well worth the price of dues for the sheer number of resources and opportunities afforded to me. For a meager $20, the PLSA provides LSAT workshops, professional development events, and writing opportunities that aim to educate students about the profession. Participation is entirely voluntary; if you are a pre-law student, there are few reasons to NOT pay your PLSA dues to stay in the loop about exciting opportunities.
Should you wish to get more involved with the PLSA, you can apply to be a writer for the GW Justice Journal, the PLSA’s weekly blog, or the prestigious GW Undergraduate Law Review. Both publications provide invaluable writing or editing experience, but the latter is one of the most exciting opportunities imaginable for an ambitious pre-law student. Over the course of a year, you will conduct in-depth research on a legal issue of your choosing, write a full-length law review article on your findings, undergo a rigorous editing process with students and professional editors critiquing your work, and ultimately be published in one of the nation’s roughly twenty undergraduate law reviews. Writing is one of the most important skills you will need in law school and for the entirety of your legal career; it’s never too early to begin thinking critically about the complex issues you will tackle as your career begins.
Membership in the PLSA automatically qualifies you to write for both of the above publications. And, if all of the above wasn’t enough, your $20 dues gets you a pretty swagtastic t-shirt. What’s there to complain about? My big (a UHP alum!) and I at Phi Alpha Delta Fall 2014 Initiation.
Next up, GW’s Pre-Law Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta, Law Fraternity International. I rushed PAD during the Fall of my freshman year, and it’s an experience that I would unquestionably recommend to any student interested in law. Like the PLSA, PAD seeks to educate its members about the legal profession, offering law school workshops, LSAP prep courses, and professional development opportunities. What sets PAD apart is the inherent qualities that come attached to Greek Life: brotherhood, social camaraderie, and community service. I think of PAD as a place where I can commiserate with fellow aspiring lawyers, network, and grow as a person by sharing in the wonderful experiences of my brothers. PAD is by no means for everyone, but it is an incredible way to connect with other people of similar interests.
Though there is a formal Rush process in the Spring and Fall, you can join PAD at any time in the semester. Another interesting note about PAD is that it is not an “exclusive” organization; our National Mandates requires we accept all applicants, regardless of career or major interests. Thus, PAD is a great organization to join if you’d like to explore whether or not Law might be the right career path for you—many of our most prominent alumni, former Presidents, etc. ultimately do not go on to law school after graduation (many, of course, do as well). Spring rush is upcoming; stop by at the Spring Org Fair or check out our Facebook page for more information.
Now, we move on to some more “curricular” items. I’ll preface this second half by reiterating what you’ve hopefully heard from a whole lot of different places in your time at GW: There is no specific major or classes you need to take in order to qualify you to attend law school. Unlike medical school and other professional schools, law school admissions factor in two basic statistics to make their admission decisions: your GPA and your LSAT score. You can major in anything you want, provided that you are passionate about the subject material and thus can excel academically. What’s that? You thought you had to major in Political Science to have any chance of getting into law school? Bah humbug! I’m a History major with minors in Jazz Studies and Law & Society. Remember, law school is where you learn how to be a lawyer, not as an undergrad. That being said, there are certainly some opportunities to take advantage of your inherent interest in the law starting NOW.
Like, for instance, the Law & Society minor—the closest thing that GW has to a Pre-Law minor, though you don’t need to declare it in order to be considered “pre-law” at GW, nor is it exclusive to Pre-Law students. It’s essentially a convenient packaging of many of the courses that GW offers that address legal topics: US Constitutional History, Sociology of Law, Patent Law for Engineers, Media Law, etc. Housed in the Sociology Department, entrance to the minor requires that you have maintained a minimum 3.3 GPA and at least 30 hours of coursework at GW. Visit http://sociology.columbian.gwu.edu/minor-law-society for more information, or contact Dr. Fran Buntman, the Law and Society Minor Coordinator, at fbuntman@gwmail.gwu.edu. I visited the Supreme Court along with four fellow Honors students on an assignment for HONR 2047 last November to hear Oral Arguments in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins. Pictured here is the Court upon our arrival at 5:25am.
And finally, I’ll throw in a quick plug to one of my favorite courses from last semester, a course that should be required for any pre-law Honors student: HONR 2047—Justice and the Legal System I with Professor Jill Kasle. Make no mistake: JLS is not an easy course. It is mentally challenging and requires you to think and write critically in a way you otherwise will not need to until law school. Prof. Kasle makes it clear on Day 1 that the goal of JLS is to expose you to what a first-year Constitutional Law class is like. She unequivocally succeeds; you will walk out on the final day of class with a clear picture of what 1L Day One will look like.
An added benefit of the class: Prof. Kasle is an invaluable resource to anyone who wishes to pursue a career in law, but she only advises students who she has had as students. So, if you want to have access to one of GW’s best-kept advising secrets, sign up for JLS when fall registration rolls around!
A few parting thoughts: Remember that participation in extracurricular activities can only provide as much of a return as you put in. Joining an organization to say you joined it won’t even have the faintest of relevance on your law school application. Law schools will place a higher premium on a display of passion for a specific activity than mere nominal involvement. Don’t just write for the ULR because it will look good on your resume, go into the experience expecting to learn something and defend your passion for writing. Don’t just rush PAD to put it on your resume, plan to attend social events and professional development sessions to enhance yourself. Don’t just join any of these organizations or incorporate any of my curricular suggestions into your Four-Year Plan because you think they themselves will help your chances at admission to your dream law school, but rather because you are passionate about the mission of the organization or the course.
Have more questions about Pre-Law? Feel free to shoot me an email at zsanders@gwmail.gwu.edu! Can you tell I love to talk about this stuff?
Who knew that mud, darkness and tight caverns would be so awesome? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of spelunking, allow me to explain: spelunking is the activity of exploring caves. This past Sunday, a small group of UHP faculty and students traveled to Pendleton, West Virginia for a spelunking adventure we would not soon forget.
We left campus around 9:45 in the morning and drove three long hours to our destination, a drive full of mountainous switchbacks, Fall Out Boy and David Guetta (thank you, Michael), and lots of livestock. The weather was beautiful and resembled a spring day in Washington. We, however, would be spending the entire day underground in total darkness. We met our guide, Lester, at a gas station which advertised “state price minimum beer” and their delicious pepperoni rolls. After a brief round of introductions, we drove down the road and off the highway where we put on our gear: helmets and headlights. Soon, we descended into Key Cave.
Climbing, contorting, wiggling and army-crawling through the damp and muddy caverns, Lester taught us how Key Cave was formed (limestone + water=carbonic acid=cave), how to identify igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock, and how to properly navigate a cave (pro tip: orient your compass and your map). Despite our crash course in caving, we slipped around a bit, stepped in a lot of puddles (cough, cough Riley), and even crafted clay sculptures in the “Art Room” of Key Cave. We emerged covered in mud three hours later after having traveled hundreds of feet underground, escaping with only minor cuts and bruises! On the way home, sleep, card games, Skrillex—try falling asleep to that—and a beautiful sunset followed our lovely afternoon underground.
Honestly, I can’t think of a more therapeutic way to spend an afternoon. With finals quickly approaching and stress permeating every academic building, library, and dorm on campus, it’s easy to see that GW students feel a bit “cramped” and overwhelmed. After spending three hours in the underbelly of a mountain, however, I can say that these feelings are simply figments of our imaginations. Getting out of our heads and into the outdoors can change our perspective on all the stress we endure. Whether it’s a walk around campus or a spelunking trip to Pendleton, West Virginia, try to take a deep breath and allow yourself some space to think. If that’s not a lesson in Stoicism, I don’t know what is.
A huge thanks to Professor Mark Ralkowski and GW Trails for their organization and planning, and to our drivers, Renee and Michael. We couldn’t have done it without you all!
Make sure to check to UHP blog and your emails for information about next semester’s adventure!
Final review: 10/10, let’s do it again.
Less than a week ago, Asepsis launched a crowdfunding effort for the construction of 231 toilets for 231 families in Odisha, India. This effort will be the first step Asepsis is taking on it’s journey to redefine the way we see the sanitation crisis and how we solve it.
To do so, not only will we be reaching out to donors, but will be activating networks of artistic, creative, and passionate minds from a variety of backgrounds around the common theme of sanitation. And we’re doing this by launching a photo competition called the #ComingClean Challenge that will run in tandem with the crowdfunding campaign. The winner of this competition will join us on an all-expenses-paid trip to India to report on the work we have did with ASHA — illustrate what went right and what we can do better — and help us document the sanitation crisis more generally.
But more about the project first. Our Work With ASHA
The large scale of this project will help make two villages in Odisha, India open defecation free. Working with our on-the-ground partner, ASHA (Association for Sanitation and Health Activities), we will cooperate with the community to improve sanitation through comprehensive and inclusive training programs that ensure long-term success. Our team met them in India this past summer and were instantly taken with the commitment and know-how of their staff. As a young organization looking to help do our part as quick as possible, we decided that working with the them would be the best possible way to do so. Click here to help support our crowdfunding effort and learn more!
The #ComingClean Challenge
Asepsis understands that the sanitation crisis cannot be solved simply with the construction of toilets. Rather, we need to change the way we think about and interact with it. What we need is for the story of this social injustice to be told, for it to come to light and for the true depth of its impact to be fully grasped.
The #ComingClean Challenge will ask photographers from around the world to submit one photo that tells the story of any social injustice — anything from poverty to homelessness to racial-ethnic relations. The winner of this competition — as decided by a panel of judges comprised of Pulitzer Prize winners, journalists featured in major publications such as The New York Times, and some of the leading minds in human rights as well as social media outlets like Instagram and Facebook — will be able to accompany Asepsis on an all expenses paid trip to Odisha, India.
Why? Asepsis is committed to redefining the way we see the sanitation crisis. Like social injustices that plague communities around the world, it is in the refusal to talk about sanitation and keep it hidden from the public discourse that the greatest harm is done. The #ComingClean Challenge is meant to change this phenomenon by not only helping document the sanitation crisis with our partners ASHA, but by also shining a light on social injustices that exist around the world. This challenge will heighten the visibility of these issues and the photographers that were able to capture them, creating a powerful catalyst for change.
To view the sanitation crisis as a social injustice is to change the conversation to one that compels us to action. But it’s not difficult to see it as such. 2.4 BILLION people lack access to sanitation systems, 780 million still struggle to find clean water, and 2,200 children die of preventable, diarrheal diseases every single day. These numbers are staggering and constitute the classification of sanitation worldwide as not only a social injustice, but a humanitarian disaster.
And this humanitarian disaster, this social injustice on a massive scale needs to be documented. Asepsis is trying to do this in an innovative way, putting the tangible benefits of our crowdfunding effort and work with ASHA alongside a photo competition that will give photographers around the world an amazing opportunity to help tell the world a story they so desperately need to see and hear. And only then, can we begin #ComingClean. To learn more about the #ComingClean Challenge, visit us at: http://www.asepsis.org/#coming-clean.
This post was written by Peer Advisor Naomi, a CCAS junior studying biology and English.
Finals have finished, your bags are packed and you’re about to say bye to your friends for the first time since you met them. You get some snacks for the road and head out of the dorms for three weeks.
You try to control your excitement as you imagine sleeping in your bed, seeing your family and probably doing no school work during this much needed vacation.
Except you’re forgetting one important thing: The freedom that you have enjoyed for four months won’t be present over these next three weeks. You will be living with your family again, following their rules, and doing what they say. It’s difficult, considering you have been able to decide your own curfew for the past four months … will you be able to adjust?
When I left West Hall mid-December to make the (soOoOo incredibly long) trek back to Mclean, VA, I had to keep reminding myself that being back home after four months of college would be familiar, but different. And that is not necessarily a bad thing! There would obviously be great home-cooked food and a lot of Netflix with the family. My parents are very understanding and gave me a lot of freedom in high school (hi Mom!), but when I came back for break, I was expected to adhere to rules and still do the same chores as I did as a high school senior. I still had to tell my family where I was going before I headed out for the evening and was told I had to be back before 12. All these rules were not difficult to follow, but make sure you are able to sit down with your family before winter break is well under way to discuss guidelines. Will you have to check in with your siblings or parents before taking the car? Does your mom want you home on the Sundays for family dinners? The earlier you have this conversation, the more stress free your winter break will be!
Family time is awesome, sometimes. That’s why we have our friends back home: for complaining, laughing, crying and everything in between. Hopefully, some of your friends from high school will be in town at the same time and you all will get to catch up! Don’t feel disheartened if your friends seem to have changed a little bit. You never know: maybe they think you have changed as well! College is an essential part of finding ourselves. Through our various experiences and interests, we develop a personality by a combination of the new and the old. Talk about these new experiences and reminisce about the old with your friends. Grab coffee at your favorite place in town or go bowling at the neighborhood bowling alley! Things may not be the same as high school, but nothing is stopping you from having a good time like before.
Winter break will always be bittersweet, but it is all about attitude. If you approach break with a general idea of what you want to do, whether it be catch up on sleep, friends, family or all three, you will feel much more energized come spring semester when it is time to crack down for class!
On November 14, 2015, Professor Helen McManus and 10 members of her Origins & Evolution of Modern Thought class participated in a “Professor on the Town” event at The Phillips Collection.
As our class focuses on Work & Rest within the origins of modern thought, it was fitting for Professor McManus to take us there to a place she describes as her favorite gallery in DC because it is a restful place for her.
According to Professor McManus, “most restful (though intellectually most like hard work) is the Rothko Room, a tiny gallery for four enormous paintings. Before we left for coffee, I made sure every student was able to find that space.”
We each had our own favorites as well. Personally, I thought it was very interesting to see and hear about the history of the artwork and how it ended up at the Phillips Collection. In particular, I enjoyed Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” because it was moving to consider the history behind the content of the pieces, but also fascinating to hear about the methods Lawrence used to create it and how the piece evolved to be divided into separate galleries.
Other classmates of mine enjoyed the gallery’s most famous piece: Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boarding Party”. Sara and Stephanie both found enjoyed hearing about why and how Renoir depicted each character the way he did and all the various stories behind Renoir’s artistic decisions as well as how it got to the Phillips Collection.
Still, some of my other classmates preferred to focus on some of the small intricacies of the gallery. Kelsie, while enjoying the Van Gogh and Chagall pieces, also appreciated the story of the tiny Paul Klee painting that was stolen from the collection but was eventually returned after a responsible person purchased it on the black market!
However, not all of the amusing parts of the trip even came from the artwork itself! Ethan really enjoyed hearing about the development of the Phillips Collection which made the experience of the gallery an active one rather than a passive one that you might expect to get at a gallery.
In the end, we learned most about how the collection is the product of a family’s vision and love for art, which made the whole experience so much more meaningful. This, along with the community building opportunity for our class truly made this trip worthwhile! I’d like to thank the Honors program for its support and Professor McManus for exposing us to such a fascinating DC exhibition!
This post was written by Peer Advisor Michaela Stanch, a junior in SEAS studying Civil Engineering and minoring in International Affairs. Not me.
I, like many UHPers, hold myself to a certain level of excellence. In the spring of my sophomore year, I wanted to maintain this level in all aspects of my life. I had an internship, leadership positions in multiple student orgs, and I was going to take 19 credits: four engineering courses, two honors courses, and LSPA 1037, or Indoor Soccer. Due to many unexpected and traumatic circumstances, I ended up taking three incompletes, dropping two leadership positions, and missing at least five weeks of my internship. The only thing close to the standards that I had set for myself in January was the “A” I got in Indoor Soccer. By the time I finished my incompletes, my GPA for that semester was a 2.57.
In order to stay in the University Honors Program, you need to maintain the mathematical possibility of finishing with a 3.4 GPA. While yes, you can do this by keeping your GPA above a 3.4 all your semesters, that’s not required. Your overall GPA doesn’t need to be a straight line; it can (and probably will) go up and down, as long as it ends at or above a 3.4. You are in the UHP because the UHP knows you are capable of that. Also not me.
I took Indoor Soccer last spring for fun. I am no Ella Masar nor Meghan Klingenberg, but I genuinely enjoy the sport. However, after our first class, I knew two things: I was bad, and everyone else in the class was good. Some days, I was really bad; I passed the ball to the other team, I kicked someone’s shins instead of the ball, and, the one time I was allowed to play goalie, the ball slowly rolled right in between my legs into the goal. Other days, I was actually decent; I blocked goals with everything besides my arms, I passed the ball to people on my own team, and I even scored a goal once.
However, my bad and good moments also didn’t really matter to my teammates nor my coach; what mattered was that we played together and were healthy and happy. When I got a mild concussion from getting hit in the head by a ball, my coach made sure I got rest and didn’t go to class. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t there on the team; my health was more important than any goals, passes, or blocks I missed. After making a comment about how bad I was in April, my coach said “You’ve really grown this semester. You’ve gotten to be a pretty good defender.” At that moment, I felt a little closer to Masar and Klingenberg. That’s more like it.
I’m pretty bad with metaphors, but by the end of that semester, I felt as if LSPA 1037 was a metaphor for me and how to approach my life. I learned that you won’t be at your level of excellence all the time, and that’s OK. It is OK to not be perfect. Your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health are far more important than being at the ridiculous level of excellence you set for yourself. You may not know all the rules, and that’s normal. That doesn’t mean that you can’t play. Most of all, I learned that it’s not about each good or bad moment; it’s about how you feel at the end. It’s about knowing that win, lose, or draw, you played your hardest in the circumstances you were given, and your team couldn’t be happier with that. It’s about knowing that you are meant to be in the position you’re in, even if you don’t believe you’re supposed to be there.
This semester, I’m taking 17 credits (two LSPA courses), focusing on fewer student organizations, and I have a fun, very casual job as an usher at Lisner on the weekends. I see a therapist every week. I could not be happier with the position I’m in, because I know that my circumstances and I have changed to where I can succeed academically without sacrificing my health. And hey, next semester I’m registered for Indoor Soccer. Maybe I’ll score two goals this time.
This post was written by Peer Advisor Bridger Christian, a Junior in SMPA studying Political Communication. Thanksgiving is only three weeks away, and I know we’ll all make it! In this week’s edition of the Extra-Curricular, we’re going to look at a really great organization on campus, GW STAR, or Student Admissions Representatives! These are the people who interact with prospective students by participating in information sessions, hosting students on overnight campus visits, and yes, giving tours. I was a member of STAR all of my Freshman and half of my Sophomore year at GW, and I have to say, it was a great experience. I only decided to hang up my GW logo polo after I accepted an internship in the US Senate that also required me giving a lot of tours. No matter how much you like giving tours, four times a week is just too much! Even though I don’t participate in the organization anymore, I can still tell you that it is truly a great group of people, and it’s a great way to get to know GW better. So let’s start from the beginning. Going into college, I always thought it’d be cool to be a tour guide. I visited about 20 colleges across the US throughout high school (and applied to 18!), and I always thought that the tour guide really made a huge difference regarding how I felt about a school. At some schools, I would have high expectations and the tour guide would let me down, and at others I’d be on the fence and the tour guide would sell me on applying. My tour guide when I visited GW was absolutely great. He was a fellow Montanan from Great Falls, and so we had an instant connection. He really made me feel comfortable leaving a state known for the great outdoors and serenity for the hustle and bustle of a city that, including the metro, has more people than all of Montana! When I got to GW, I immediately sought out GW STAR. By the second week I was in an information session, and by the end of the first month I had applied to the student organization. I worked through the interview process, in which you are asked to do things like pretend you are describing a major or building to a group of prospective students, I gave my mock tour, and I was off! I really enjoyed two aspects of the organization more than anything else. The first, of course, was developing incredibly cheesy jokes and trying them out on unknowing students. For example, I always thought it was really funny to stop at the hippo outside Lisner and say “This isn’t a real hippo of course, real hippos live in the same place as people who don’t want to go to GW… Da-Nile!” I always tried to add something new and witty to every tour I gave, and it really made the process tons of fun. The second thing I loved was just interacting with students. GW is a place that people from all over the world aspire to attend, and thus, you get to meet people from all walks of life. I remember one time I was observing a new tour guide give a tour, and I was able to spend the entire time just talking with this dad of twins from South Carolina. He and I really had a great time, laughed, and in the end, I think I was really able to make him feel more comfortable about the prospect of his students attending GW. The custom STAR logo I made for my business cards. If you do become a tour guide, I’ve got one piece of advice for you: make business cards! I developed my own cards, with my own custom GW STAR logo, and because of that, I was able to hear back from many people who had gone on tours with me. Some told me thanks for the tour, but they’d be attending other colleges or universities, while others told me they were accepting an offer to attend GW and that we should grab coffee sometime! It was great to know that, even if it wasn’t especially consequential, I helped play a role in working people through their college decision. One other thing that’s fun about being in STAR is that it’s not only about giving tours (though that is the main part). In addition to showing people around campus, you also have the opportunity (not the obligation) to host prospective students on overnight visits in your residence hall. You get a free dinner voucher, and you get to do fun stuff like take them to class, show them around the monuments, and even visit a museum. I only did this once, but it was a great experience, and the person I hosted now lives in the same residence hall as I do! In addition to all of this, being a member of STAR looks great on your resume. Studies have shown that, outside of holding a leadership position on campus (RA, President of SA, etc.), being a tour guide is one of the best things you can have on your application. It shows you work well with people, that you’ve represented a large institution before, and that you’re energetic and engaged. It also shows you are willing to do a little research and absorb information in order to do you job well. So if you’re looking for an organization on campus, I recommend giving STAR a close examination. They select new members at the beginning of each semester, so look out for the flyers in the Marvin Center elevators after the Holiday Break! It’s a great way to let your GW passion show, to meet new people, and to help prospective students decide whether or not GW is right for them.
This blog post was written by senior Pooja Shivaprasad, a peer advisor in the Elliott school majoring in Middle East studies and minoring in biology. This is my wonderful host family. I had some of the tastiest meals of my life in this kitchen! I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have the opportunity to spend four months in Morocco for a semester abroad. My decision was made quickly without much thought, and I had no idea what life would be like across the Atlantic. My Arabic language program with AMIDEAST gave me the opportunity to take insightful and challenging classes ranging from Islamic Women’s Studies to Political Science and everything in between.
Me ‘n my camel on a camping trip to the Sahara Rabat, the capital city of Morocco, is situated right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. My homestay was just a few feet from the shore, and I enjoyed running down to the beach in the evenings with my roommate, Haley. Life in Morocco was unlike anything I experienced back home in DC. Every weekend I was in a different city and sometimes even a different country. There is only nine miles of water between Morocco and Spain, so it was easy to take a weekend to travel to countries throughout Europe. Having the chance to interact with new cultures provides you with knowledge and skills that transcend a classroom setting.
The “Blue City” of Chefchaouen Morocco was not short of beautiful scenery, incredible people, or fascinating cultural experiences. I had the opportunity to teach English in a small school in the Middle Atlas Mountains, where people traveled hundreds of miles by donkey to get to the next town. On another weekend, I found myself camping out in the Sahara with a family of Bedouins just on the border of Algeria. One of my favorite cities was Chefchaouen, which was a city in the mountains painted entirely in a stunning ocean blue. Studying abroad makes you incredibly independent and it can even give you reverse culture shock when you come back home.
Me and the neighborhood donkey in Zaouiat Ahansal, a small town in the Middle Atlas Mountains There were certainly many cultural barriers and language miscommunications; however, people were always more than happy to help you. Morocco is oftentimes seen as one of the “go to’s” for students learning Arabic, but I highly recommend this program for French speakers as well. The awareness you gain from traveling to a country like Morocco is invaluable, and I’m so glad I didn’t think twice about going there!
