Semester Spotlight: Washington, DC
by Jessica Hambleton 

How many young people can say that some of the best advice they ever received came from one of President Jimmy Carter’s speechwriters?

“Find something you care about doing, rather than just a career,” award winning journalist and one-time Carter speechwriter James Fallows told a group of American University Washington Semester Program students in January. Upon hearing those words, I began to panic. It was only our second week in the Program and our careers were already on the line.

As I sat at my computer that evening after the meeting with Fallows, I began to reflect on the week’s events. I tried to dissect Fallows’ advice. It was then that I first fully understood why nearly 500 students had traveled from all over the world to come study in Washington, D.C.

How can you know what you care about if you haven’t had the opportunity to experience it?

That opportunity is what the Washington Semester Program provides. While studying a subject, whether politics, foreign policy or in my case journalism, students get hands-on experience in all that the District has to offer. Internships, visits to museums, meeting with political movers and shakers, and trips to local newspapers are all part of the experience. But it is the history that unfolds in front of your eyes that makes the trip worthwhile.

My own history began to unfold as I left my home state of Massachusetts. On December 17, 2008, I returned to a message at my parent’s house. As the mechanical man’s voice emanated from the tiny black box sitting in the hallway, chills went up spine and my legs turned to a jelly. “This is Congresswoman Tsongas’s office calling for Jessica,” the machine said. “Your name has been drawn and you will be receiving one ticket to the Inauguration.” I was going to the Presidential Inaugural.

On January 19, 2009, Capitol Hill was inundated with tourists, staffers, and those waiting in line to pick up their coveted Inauguration ticket. I was one of those standing in a line that wrapped around the Longworth House Office Building. Though the temperature was hovering around freezing and the sky threatened snow, it was an experience of a lifetime.

After two hours in the cold, sprinting up seven flights of well-buffed marble stairs, and retrieving my red folder filled with Inauguration rules and regulations I could relax on the Metro ride back to campus. Having already been exhausted from the day’s long lines and the We Are One concert the day before, I called it an early night.

My room was in darkness when the alarm clock began to buzz impolitely. It was 4 a.m. First came the layer of tights, followed by leggings, more tights, three pairs of socks, and finally my jeans. I piled on sweaters and scarves and then my wool jacket. Lucky, my hat hid my un-brushed hair. It was much too early and cold to fuss with how I looked.

After more unorganized lines on the Hill and thousands of grumpy people waiting in the dark of the early morning, the sun crept up over the Capitol and smiles began to appear. Four hours later my line was finally moving. After I sprinted to the security tent, emptied out my pockets and purse as if it were a race, was patted down for the eighth time that week, I secured a spot in a roped off section in front of the Capitol.

I will never forget President Obama’s Inauguration. I will never forget the feeling of unity that spread across the National Mall that afternoon. I will never forget the hope I saw in the child’s eyes next to me. The sight of millions of American flags waving in unison that afternoon will always be etched in my mind. And I am certain I will never forget the bone-chilling weather that accompanied the historic week. I came, I saw, I froze.

Experiencing this year’s historic Inauguration was a true highlight of my semester in Washington, as are all the speakers and places we have had the opportunity to take in. Helen Thomas, “the First Lady of Press, advised me to “walk away when you’re asked to do something that goes against morality.” Bill Kovach, founding director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, taught me the principles of journalism. And visiting the FOX News Washington bureau, where I was able to sit at the same desk that Chris Wallace reports from every Sunday, gave me more drive to become a journalist.

What I have experienced in Washington, D.C. is my future. It has been an opportunity of a lifetime and it will lead me to a career that I love. The places I have visited and the people that I have met are all a part of my future. It is what surrounds us, and what we choose to surround ourselves with, that makes us who we are and what we are going to be. As Ed Henry, CNN’s Senior White House correspondent and himself a Washington Semester Program graduate, told us recently, you have to “Drink it in. Drink it in.” He was right. And that is exactly what I am doing in Washington this semester.