D.C. Experience

9:01 a.m., April 29, 2016--Twelve University of Delaware undergraduates are coming to the close of a special spring adventure. Sarah Brotzman, Evan Butler, Georgina Class-Peters, Tamara Dawli, Laura Cahill, Amanda Kelly, Aleksandra Pelszynski, Sanika Salim, Eden Sung, Shestin Thomson and Gerti Wilson have been living, working and studying in Washington, D.C., for the 2016 spring semester.

Through the completion of an internship and two courses, they will earn 12 credits in Washington as part of the DC Experience. On Wednesday evening and Friday afternoons, the undergraduates have joined students from the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership of the City College of New York (CCNY) for their classes. 

Ed Freel, director of UDs Democracy Project at the Institute for Public Administration and faculty member within the School of Public Policy and Administration, teaches one course and a professor from CCNY teaches the other.

Working Monday through Thursday, the students are interning in the offices of U.S. Sens. Thomas Carper, Chris Coons, Pat Toomey and Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, the state of Delaware Washington, D.C., office and the International Justice Mission.

The students share a townhouse just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol and have had the opportunity to visit numerous Washington sites and meet with many practitioners and officials throughout the semester.

Special events have included a meeting with Gen. Colin Powell and a meet and greet with UD graduates working on Capitol Hill and the surrounding area. Sessions are also planned with Carper and U.S. Rep. John Carney.

For the past four years, a DC Experience was offered over Winter Session. This spring marked the first time the program was offered for a full semester.

For information on the 2017 DC Experience, go to the Institute for Global Studies homepage or contact program director Ed Freel at efreel@uel.edu. An interest meeting will be held at 5 p.m., Thursday, May 5, in 185 Graham Hall.

Article originally published by UDaily.