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Appalachian students take on D.C. |
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Thursday, 22 February 2007 |
by HEATHER SANDERS
News Reporter
Appalachian State University students have many ways they can see the Capital this year.
In addition to the University of North Carolina in Washington program, Alternative Spring Break offers three trips to Washington, D.C. Students can also apply for the Washington at Work class offered in the political science department.
“It’s a lot different from Boone,” D. Haley Lyons, a senior journalism major, said.
Lyons is working for National Geographic in Washington this semester.
Washington at Work
Dr. Phillip J. Ardoin, an assistant professor of political science,
said this is a two-week course beginning the Monday after final exams
are over.
“The purpose of the course is to see what Washington, D.C., is about
[and] to show what actually happens in politics,” Ardoin said.
The first week of classes, taught by Ardoin and Dr. Adam J. Newmark, an
assistant professor of political science, consist of readings that are
applicable to what the students will do in the Capital the following
week.
For example, Ardoin said students read “The Congressional Experience” before visiting the author, Rep. David Price (D-NC).
During the six days, students meet with members of Congress, such as
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. Elizabeth
Dole (R-NC).
Ardoin said they also visit lobbying organizations, such as the
National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign, as well as
embassies, museums, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.
Ardoin said students from any major can apply, though only 13 students
who are felt to represent the university well are chosen.
UNC in Washington
Fourteen institutions in the UNC system send three students each to Washington, D.C.
These students intern for six semester hours credit and also take a
three-semester-hour class, Sharon Jensen, a campus coordinator for the
program, said.
“It’s very much a living and learning experience,” Jensen said.
Jensen said students have complete choice in their internship, unlike students in other internship programs who are placed.
“It’s a good thing to do, to come where I don’t know anyone and get my
foot in the door,” Lyons said. “It helps not only my career, but I’m
growing as a person.”
Up to 42 students from North Carolina live together in Washington, as well as attend events and meetings together.
“In addition to being ambitious and career oriented, [students] are
also very serious,” Jensen said. “We encourage them to have fun.”
Students can also take an independent-study class to complete their course load for that semester.
ASB
Three trips to Washington are offered through Alternative Spring Break.
The Urban Plunge & Poverty allows students to live homeless for 48
hours, as well as work in soup kitchens and other poverty
organizations, according to the Appalachian and the Community Together
Web site.
“You really experience the extreme isolation from society that homeless
people feel,” Carrie A. Hamilton, senior journalism major and co-leader
of the trip, said.
This semester also offers Urban Poverty, a trip that covers women’s issues as well as works with kids and a hunger project.
Another trip is to J.C. Nalle Community School to work with inner-city children.
Although all of these trips are full, trips to Washington are usually offered every year, according to the ACT office.
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