Leadership Forum & Presidential Lecture Series SnapshotsIt would difficult and a wee bit tedious to go through every Monday programming and Presidential Lecture Series event hosted by The Washington Center. So, instead I am going to give you a snapshot of each session. If you want to get in on the real action, you have to apply!

September 13, 2010 – Myers Briggs Type Indicator Workshop

This event was hosted at the Residential and Academic Facility (RAF). Law and Criminal Justice Advisors lead the leadership Forum the assessment during Law Criminal Justice Orientation. My type: ESFJ. This forum challenged us to break up into Perceivers and Judgers and plan an event. Obviously, the Judgers had a well balanced, well written menu, while perceivers were more disorganized, in my opinion, spontaneous. In the end, everyone had fun and knows more about themselves.

September 20, 2010 - The Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Why it is a Win-Win for Israelis, Palestinians and the United States

This event included guest Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow, the American Task Force on Palestine and Ori Nir, Spokesperson for Americans for Peace Now. Both spoke very passionately about their sides of the conflict and the need to solve this issue.  They both presented a great explanation of the conflict and how a peace treaty with the help of the United States is the only positive outcome. Andrea Barron is hosting a Civic Engagements Project for Israeli - Palestinian Peace and in January an academic seminar called Camp David III. Please visit www.americantaskforce.org/ and http://peacenow.org/ for more information and to get involved.

September 27, 2010 – Career Boot Camp

From the mind of Chris Mason comes Career Boot Camp. We were issued a jovial “good morning” issued by Director of Student Life, Kevin Nunley, which mumbled back by the group of students as “goomoorrnne”. Needless to say, we were asked to try again and we answered slightly more coherently. The keynote speaker was John Berry, Director of the Office of Personnel Management. In summary, we were to be at The National Housing Center by 12:45 pm on Monday, September 27th.  We then signed in to receive our name tags and workshop locations. The best boost of confidence was issued by Mr. Berry. He said, “I was an intern….I was the first one in and the last one out. Because believe me, this town runs on interns.” My workshops were; Making a Profit and Non Profit Organizations and Building Your Brand: How to Maximize Your Law School Application Potential. Other workshops ranged from Negotiating your First Salary, Emotional Intelligence, Out in the Office, to Introduction to the Peace Corps, Winning Statements for Law School, MBA, PHD, City Year: D.C Information Session and many more.

October 4, 2010 – Capitol Hill VisitThis event was optional. I choose to work at my internship and work on some upcoming cases. However, a Capitol Hill visit is in my near future…hopefully!!

October 18, 2010 the President's Lecture Series, Private Sector Philanthropy and Community Engagement Panel

Moderator- David Smith, Executive Director - The National Conference on Citizenship
Panelists
Ralph Boyd, President & CEO, Freddie Mac Foundation
Dr. Tom Chapman, President, HSC Foundation
Anna Powell, Community Affairs Director, Wachovia
Aaron Sherinian, Executive Director of Public Affairs, the UN Foundation

This PLS started as always, with Kevin Nunley giving us the “housekeeping” rules as always. I believe interns have learned, from Career Boot Camp to give a proper hello to Mr. Nunley as soon as he gets to the stand to avoid a repeat. He then introduced Mike Smith, President of The Washington Center who christened the new Lincoln Auditorium we were sitting in. This auditorium transforms every week, into two to four spacious classrooms easily. All equipped with flat panel TV’s, cameras and projectors. In the panel discussion, students received a great view of what philanthropy on a corporate level entails and further more how corporations are getting involved on a local level. For more information, please visit their respective organizations.

November 1, 2010 – The President's Lecture Series - German Ambassador to the United States Klaus Scharioth

The German Ambassador to the United States, Klaus Scharioth was the guest speaker. The ambassador discussed his views of diplomacy, his experience as Ambassador, working in the United Nations and working through difference changes in U.S. Presidential Administration. He also spoke of the top four priorities at the moment; Nuclear, Environment, Economics and Society, specifically the “jihadist terrorist ideology” that has spread through America. He also said that while they may be the top priorities, there are many more priorities. He also pressed the importance that countries work together as much as possible. During the Question and Answer section, many students asked his opinion about Germany's relationship with their countries, while a few American students asked about the changes in Germany 20 years after the country was unified and about where he sees the US and Europe 20 years from now. The Ambassador answered very jovially when some students actually asked him questions in English, their native language and German. For more information on the German Ambassador to the United States visit the German Mission in the United States.

November 8, 2010 - Interviewing Tips and Strategies Workshop with Chris Mason, Student Life Advisor for Multicultural, Disability and Career Services & Tim Gallagher, a Special Agent with the FBI and TWC alum

As always, any session involving Mr. Mason is extremely informative and helpful. At the beginning of this session, we learned some excellent tips for interviewing such as; small talk can help connect you and your potential employer, politely asking for a time frame can help when it comes to applying for several positions and never give a number for salary. This really came in handy for me. A friend back home was going on an interview the next week and I was able to give her tips for her interview, which she said worked to connect her to her potential employer.

Agent Gallagher was able to take us through a somewhat interactive investigation and let us know the ends and outs of investigation. I’m always saying I am on the “Law” side of Law and Criminal Justice because I was never interested in Law Enforcement. However, Agent Gallagher was able to discuss not only the enforcement side but some the laws that went along with that and how they both played a key role in capturing the suspect and keeping him in a jail for a number of years to come.

So, here in my snapshot, I didn't want to list all of the PLS and Leadership Forum events! The Forum on the anniversary of the 19th Admendment to give women the right to vote was a presentation by an awesome representative from the Sewell-Belmont House and Mueseum and the lecture at the CATO Institute with Research Fellow in Defense and Homeland Security, Benjamin H. Friedman are definitely in my top five as well! But if you want to get involved and experience lectures and forums with panels from all over the world, apply to the program!