By Taylor Hartz
Fall 2013
Joy, Brittnee, Kelsey, Myself, Shelby, and Sidney (L-R)
From the moment we arrived in D.C., we were taught that in addition to our college degree and internship experiences, real world connections would be essential during the post-grad job hunt. The word “network” appeared on every orientation hand-out and came up in all our discussions, helping us to understand that if we planned to get a handle on networking, this was the place to do it.
By Shelby Carignan
Fall 2013
By some stroke of luck, I got to spend semesters abroad through BU both in the U.S. and abroad. Studying abroad for a semester is on the bucket list of most college students. It’s an especially big part of the BU undergraduate experience, since they’ve got programs literally all over the world. Most students looking to study abroad probably don’t even consider the idea of studying within the U.S. at BU’s campus in D.C. or LA, but if a student wants to have their professional goals at the center of their experience, domestic programs give students a unique edge that they won’t get abroad or in Boston. Having experienced studying with BU’s program in Paris, France and being halfway through the D.C. journalism program here, I think I’ve got a sense of the pros and cons of each.
By Brittnee Exum
Fall 2013
My internship at Fox 5 News has everything to do with my major, broadcast journalism. I aspire to become a television news reporter. Inside the Fox newsroom, I am surrounded by seasoned journalists who tell compelling stories. Many times, I’m able to accompany reporters on their assignments. I get to be a part of the news production process from start to finish.
By Shelby Carignan
Fall 2013
By some stroke of luck, I got to spend semesters abroad through BU both in the U.S. and abroad. Studying abroad for a semester is on the bucket list of most college students. It’s an especially big part of the BU undergraduate experience, since they’ve got programs literally all over the world. Most students looking to study abroad probably don’t even consider the idea of studying within the U.S. at BU’s campus in D.C. or LA, but if a student wants to have their professional goals at the center of their experience, domestic programs give students a unique edge that they won’t get abroad or in Boston. Having experienced studying with BU’s program in Paris, France and being halfway through the D.C. journalism program here, I think I’ve got a sense of the pros and cons of each.
By Kelsey Hopper
Fall 2013
Left to right: Joy, Brittnee, myself, Taylor, Shelby and Shujie.
The first week of my semester in DC was filled with getting to know my new classmates and learning more about Washington DC. The orientation week allowed us to all get to know each other better, and discover the new city we would be living in. Our program coordinators brought us to local, well known places to eat including Busboys and Poets, and Ben’s Chili Bowl. We went on a tour of the Capitol and learned how to use the metro and bus systems too! We learned about the culture of Washington and how to best network and be professional in our new environment.
By Brittnee Exum
Fall 2013
My internship at Fox 5 News has everything to do with my major, broadcast journalism. I aspire to become a television news reporter. Inside the Fox newsroom, I am surrounded by seasoned journalists who tell compelling stories. Many times, I’m able to accompany reporters on their assignments. I get to be a part of the news production process from start to finish.
In the morning, I attend a daily meeting where producers, reporters, writers, assignment editors, the news director and other team members develop the content for the evening newscast. Reporters pitch stories and many times are assigned to breaking news stories. The news team also decides what other stories they will talk about in the newscast and possible guests they may want to bring in to elaborate on a topic.
By Kelly King
Fall 2013
After spending two consecutive summers interning in Washington, I was prepared to begin my academic semester here with a level of comfort in the city that would help me balance classes, an internship and a social life in this exciting town. What occurred to me throughout the first few weeks with my new classmates was that they were experiencing for the first time everything I already enjoyed about this city. I loved the free events, transportation simplicity on the metro, the international flavor of its people and the intense energy that emanates from the politicians, interest groups, and interns like me. I have now adapted and appreciated the bustle of the city, but what has always and will continue to surprise me is the access one can have to high level people and influential policy makers in Washington.
By Kara Korab
Summer 2013
Every Friday the BU Washington program takes us on mini-outings all around DC. These field trips have included places such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Pentagon, the National Bulding Museum (read Vlad’s blog post about that), a Washington Nationals baseball game, and countless others. Being from the DMV (That’s DC, Maryland, Virginia to you non-Mid-Atlanticers) area, I didn’t expect to be wow-ed by any of the places we went. After all, I’ve been doing field trips to the National Mall since elementary school.
The Newseum
I am delighted to say that BU Washington proved me wrong, every Friday outing brought us to a new and interesting place I probably wouldn’t have gone on my own. This being the last blog post I’ve had plenty of time to consider every outing. While I loved something different about every one if I had to narrow it down the clear winner is our first Friday event — the Newseum. The Newseum’s seven floors are packed with interactive exhibits that explore how news has affected our experience of history. It is a perfect trifecta of all the things I love; journalism, history, and politics.
View from the Newseum balcony. Unfortunately it was raining when we were there.
I could have spent days exploring its fifteen theaters and fifteen galleries. As a photojournalist I found myself particularly drawn to certain sections of the Newseum, including an exhibit on the photographs of the only journalist who died in the attack on 9/11 and an exhibit on every photograph to in a Pulitzer Prize. The Newseum also does a tremendous job keeping current and up to date with new media forms of broadcasting the news, including an entire room devoted to the daily headlines in almost every country around the world. With a gorgeous view of the Capitol Building(see photo below), heart wrenching exhibits on 9/11, the Berlin Wall, and the assignation of JFK , and even an Interactive Newsroom (that’s right, where visitors get to play the role of a live action reporter!) the Newseum is hard to beat.
In front of the White House
Kara Korab is a senior majoring in International Relations. Before coming to DC she had participated in the BU Abroad Paris Internship Program.
By Mike Meehan
Summer 2013
This summer in DC has certainly been full of memories. I’ve been lucky enough to attend events at the White House, the Capitol, and venues across the district. But I’ll have to admit, the best event I attended this summer was the Center for American Progress National Summit.
By Leslie Backoff
Summer 2013
In a city full of interns studying subjects such as political science or international relations I often get looked at weirdly when I say that I am studying hospitality administration. People become even more surprised to hear that my internship consists of planning meetings and events at a military university. I must admit that when I was offered an internship at National Defense University I was a bit apprehensive about how much it would actually relate to event planning. However, with my time at NDU coming to an end I can completely say that I have had great experiences that I will take with me for the rest of my career in the hospitality industry.
National Defense University is located on Fort McNair in the South West part of D.C. The wide range of masters programs and research centers as well as the large number of international students that come to study at NDU make for very diverse types of events on campus. Every year, the events department at NDU will put on over 600 events that range from a meeting with four people to the graduation ceremony that hosts over 3,000 attendees. Some of the events I have helped with include: a dedication of an original set of plans for the Normandy invasion, a meeting with Australian scholars, the NDU graduation ceremonies, a seminar on China and Iran, and a speech by the ambassador from Iraq.
