Bowling at the White House

In 1947 President Harry S. Truman received a very special birthday present, a bowling alley. Truman did not care for bowling himself, but allowed his staff to start a league. The two lane bowling alley was located in what is the present day situation room. In 1955 the two lane bowling alley was moved to the Old Executive Office Building to make room for a mimeograph room. Yesterday, I had the honor of bowling at the White House with the Deputy Secretary of Education and his staff, the office I work for. This was a great end to the first week on the job, bowling with the staff (a nice bonding experience,) eating pizza, and drinking Coke. I personally am not a bowler, and my score proved it, I was 12 out of 12. Although I do believe I beat President Obama's 37. The president was scheduled to visit us in the bowling alley, but unfortunately something else came up. As you know, there isn't usually down time when you are leading the free world. As far as my supervisor's score, the Deputy Secretary responded, "you beat the intern."

On-Campus Orientation

After being accepted and deciding that you will go on the program, you have to tell the Office of Off-Campus Study that you are going go to go. It is not simply a box that you check off on a form, but instead you have to sign a contract. In addition to maintaining a minimum GPA, taking the right amount of classes etc. You also have to commit to get to know everyone else going on the program by attending all of the pre-departure meetings.

The first part happens the week after you are informed, that starts with a lunch meeting at Collins (In one of those private back rooms people don't usually use). Kristen Mallory and Professor Pitney start to give some basic information about Washington and helps get conversation going amongst all the participants. Professor Pitney even gives out a little Washington DC/Current events quiz. After you finish your Collins you walk over to Bauer Center. There you go over many topics, with both Professor Pitney as well as program alumni. They tell you the good places to live, help explain the DC public transit system as well as how to find good internships. Fid Castro even came and helped explain the process of finding housing and played some ice breaker games (You know, the one's you do during Freshman orientation, that you thought you'd never have to do again) so that everybody can get to know each other.

As the semester goes on, there are two more events, a dinner at the Ath and a final lunch at Collins. One of the ways that this gets you ready for DC is that there are no reminders sent out about the events, this is to help you keep to a schedule that you will have to face in DC, where they will not constantly remind you of upcoming events, similar to a semester in Washington.

Our Connections

Have you ever heard professors on campus and perhaps Career Services and your advisers talk about contacting alumni to tap into their connections? The Washington Program is the place where I have seen these contacts be beneficial while in school (aside from the occasional internship, summer and here in DC.) Our alums were able to secure for us exclusive tours at many buildings, to areas that DC tourists are not allowed to see. Orientation week included tours of Politico, the Pentagon, U.S. Capitol Building and the Supreme Court. It was beneficial to see what alums are doing, and how their CMC education (and the Washington Program) gave them the tools, and sometimes the connections to begin high level careers. Reminds me of the CMC motto, Leaders in the Making, and the Washington Program can help you get there.

First Two Days

We have now had two days on the job (Mike Whatley actually started working January 4 and has been working through orientation as well as weekends). As of tonight we have also now had all 3 of our other classes. They are all seminars. In Dr. Spalding's class on liberal internationalism, we went over reading, which looked at the evolution of liberal internationalism. We then had a discussion/debate over trying to come up with a definition for liberal internationalism (It's a lot harder than you would think). Before Dr. Spalding's class on Monday we had the first day of our internships. We all shared stories of our first days as we waited for class to start. We also collectively complained of exhaustion. The DC program will certainly not be easy, we can't take those mid-day naps that we all value. Today we got further settled into our internships. I got my badge today and I know some other people finally got finished with their security clearances. Tonight's class was with Adam Wolfson who will be the instructor as we write our research papers for Government 126. He has a wide array of topics to handle as we suggested topics from campaign finance to nuclear energy. We will have our second class with Professor Haskell on Thursday. His class deals with the Congress and the federal budget. We use a book he wrote for class, reading one or two chapters a week. I have to be at work at 8 am tomorrow so I have to go catch up on some sleep.

The Application Process (Pt. II)

So after you turn in the application, it's time for the interview. One thing to keep in mind is that they expect you to wear a suit or at least a jacket with tie and khakis. This is something that Kristen Mallory stressed at the info session. If you're like me, you will have to borrow a lot of this stuff and maybe improvise a little (Ben Salzman's dress shoes, Kyle Shipley's tie, black baseball socks in order to have dark dressy looking socks and if anyone needs a lucky jacket contact Jason Rehhaut). But make sure you have all of this stuff ready to go for the interview.

At the interview will be members of the selection committee. For me it was Kristen Mallory, Beth Ricca, and Professor Pitney and Miller. With Beth Ricca no longer at the career services office, I'm not sure who will be taking her spot on the committee. In addition, there is also a student in the interview who has been on the program before. Different program alumni do different batches of interviews (I have heard of at least two different students sitting in on the interviews for this current semesters group of students). They will all ask you questions to expand on your application as well as completely new questions.

Once all the interviews are over, they are very good at quickly sending out the results to your campus mailbox. You will get an email when they have put the letters in your mailbox so that you know to go and check. In those letters they will also inform you if you were awarded either The Margaret Martin Brock Internship Award or the Claremont McKenna Internship Award. These are stipends that you will receive a check for once you arrive in Washington.

After that it is just up to you do decide whether or not to accept the offer.

The Application Process (Pt. I)

Dr. Spalding, the director of the program will be coming to CMC the week of February 1 and will hold an information session where she will be able to answer more questions about the application process and the program.

If you don't feel like reading the entire post (it's a little lengthy) here are some tips:
Although the statements may seem short, make sure you put a lot of thought into them as the entire selection committee will be reading the application.
If you're a person who ends up turning things in right before the deadline (turned in my CMC application with 7 minutes to spare) you want to make sure that you have enough time to get the passport-type photos. This can be an easy thing to forget and if you find yourself printing off your application with an hour to spare and realize that the only thing that you are missing are the photos, it can be nerve-wracking.
It is handy to have your recommendation writer provide a recommendation that you can not only use for the application but can also use it for internship applications.
Be sure to check out Professor Pitney's page on how to ask for a letter of recommendation.

The Application:
The application process for the Washington Program is pretty straightforward. It can be found online at the "Applicants" section of the official Washington Program website. The application for the Fall 2010 semester is due February 5 so anyone who's interested should get started. It's an 8 page application which may seem a little daunting, but it's definitely worth it. The program mostly consists of government majors, but there are certainly people from different departments. For example, this semester Jenny is an Econ-accounting major and is working at the accounting office of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Ben Harris is also working for the SEC. I had contemplated working for the national office of the Japan-America Society, so it is certainly possible to come to Washington even if you are not interested in American politics and if you are interested you should apply.

The first two parts of the application are fairly simple, just general personal information as well as the times when you would be free for an interview. After that, you have to put a little more thought into it.

Part III requires that you show that you have planned out your credits for graduation. Even if you don't end up applying, this is probably a good thing to do.

Part IV is a resume which career services will work with you to ensure that it will help you land an internship you want while you are in the district.

Part V has two statements that have you write about why you want to go on the program and describe the internships you want to do. You should begin to suggest a few internships that you find interesting. The other statement asks you to describe why you are prepared to handle the rigorous demands of the program.

Part VI is a couple of passport-type photos that you can get at a bunch of places.

Part VII is a transcript that CMC students do not have to worry about making arrangements (simply put your signature on the application). Students from the other 4Cs have to make arrangements to have their transcript provided to the selection committee.

Part VIII is a letter of recommendation. Pretty straightforward, but make sure you give your writer plenty of time to write the recommendation and submit it to the committee.

One other part of the application that you have to submit but doesn't have its own "part" is the "Dean of Students Clearance". This has to be submitted to the Dean of Students office and has the same deadline as the rest of the application.

Good Luck!

The Group

There are eleven of us here in Washington. Three sophomores and eight juniors. One from Pomona, one from Pitzer and the rest from CMC. We have all different types of internships in both the public and private sector and some even get paid. Isaac even gets $30 a plate lunches for free through his gig. People also have some other benefits such as a gym or just Ben's ability to bypass the visitor line at the Pentagon. I put a list of all the internships below:

Meredith Doyle - Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates
Angela Estrella-Lemus - Department of Education (Office of the Undersecretary)
Benjamin Forster - Department of Defense
Benjamin Harris (Pitzer) - SEC (Division of Investment Management)
Jenny Hou - Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Bukola Jimoh - Department of Justice (Environmental & Natural Resources Division)
Isaac Kastama (Pomona) - Terry Turner and Associates
Michael Kotler - Office of Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Jake Petzold - West Wing Writers
Carlos Rivas - Department of Education (Office of the Deputy Secretary dealing with stimulus money)
John Michael Whatley - House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Introduction

My name is Michael Kotler and I will be the other main guy posting on here. I hope to be able to tell people about certain aspects/advantages of the Washington Program (Orientation and alumni connections) as well as specific activities that we are doing (such as guest speakers, topics we are discussing in class etc.). I am a junior government and economics dual major from CMC. I transferred to CMC after my freshmen year which I spent at the University of Rochester in New York state. If any of you have any questions about going on the program as a transfer, feel free to ask me.

Blogging

Hello Everyone! My name is Carlos Rivas and I will be a contributor to this blog for the Spring 2010 semester. I want to give you a little bio and what I will be doing in DC before we get to the nitty gritty of the DC experience. I am from Chicago Illinois (meaning it's a great time to be in DC) and have interests in Chicago politics, public education reform, and many other legislative issues. I am a sophomore at CMC, dual majoring in Government and Spanish. Next semester, I plan to study abroad in Buenos Aires Argentina. This semester I will be interning at the Department of Education. I hope to be able to provide you with a clear understanding of what you'll be facing in DC if you decide to apply and are admitted to the program. Other students will also be contributing to this blog, and we'll add plenty of pictures!