Flashback: Ye Olde Washington Semester

When people ask me why I initially decided to do the Washington Semester Program, like for most things in my life, I have my mom to thank.

My mom, Kathleen Sheedy, was going to Indiana's St. Mary's College in 1975 when she saw a sign posted advertising the Washington Semester Program. Although the sign stipulated that she must be a government major (which she was not), she ended up making a spur of the moment decision and tried to apply anyhow, choosing a random subject - Economics, even if she had almost no background and the rest of the applicants were already Econ majors.

Proof, it seems, that being qualified is totally overrated. [not that you didn't do a great job, mom, I'm sure you were fab]
(She semi-jokingly attributes her acceptance into the program to the fact that she was one of 3 women in the class of 25 or so men making up the Economic Policy Program)

Her dad, on his way to becoming a prominent Milwaukee judge, helped get her an internship with Henry S. Reuss, a congressman from Wisconsin, for whom she worked on the hill in Rayburn House. The best part, she says, was getting to go to hearings, even if she doesn't recall all the speakers or topics discussed. Just being able to mill around in the Capitol was enough.

And in those days, there was no security in the Capitol. Can you imagine - no lines, no slow old congressmen taking their grand ol' time "removing any items from their pockets", no curt, unnecessarily unfriendly ID-checking security guards. Must have been lovely.

During her time at AU she lives in Anderson Hall, and met a group of friends that, to this day, she stays in touch with.

My mom, Susan Dalton, Kym Waits, & Jeanne Burke

I asked her a couple more in-depth questions about her time & relationships in D.C. -

Q: Are you still in touch with the people you met on the program? If so, what did they think of it?
A: I think I put forth the effort to keep in touch with those I liked the most. We all came from different schools, so we all had to make friends. We all thought the semester was the smartest school decision we had made. Maybe we liked the fact that we did not have many tests, but the lessons and the speakers made all the topics seem relevant and practical. We were learning life lessons, not just textbook examples.

Q: What was your favorite part of the program?
A: Living in DC and having access to the Capitol.

Q: What did you learn?
A: Where to get a great cheap lunch in the house. - I learned that changing schools and meeting new people was easier than I thought.

Q: How has it helped you in your life?
A: It has made me open to change and new experiences. It is easy to get comfortable.

Q: Do you think you changed as a person? As a professional?
A: I think because of that semester, I transferred schools and changed majors. I think living in DC for two more years changed me as a person.
    This had such an impact on my college experience. I felt that all my kids should experience DC from the Washington Semester perspective. I graduated from Georgetown and lived in DC for two more years, but the program structure and requirement of two full days of internship was the key to understanding working in DC. I found that, because all the other students were doing the same, we experienced DC from a different perspective. We were not students there, but rather paraprofessionals getting our feet wet. 


So gracias madre - glad I could continue the legacy. Hopefully one day I'll be showing my own kid some horrifically out of date photo and insisting, just as adamantly, that somehow, yes, that hairstyle was in fact in style.