Monday, March 17th, was St. Patrick’s Day. The LCJ program had a speaker from the Arlington K-9 unit, Deputy Grubar and his K-9 partner Deputy Various. Deputy Various is a black lab about 2 years old. He was trained as a single-purpose K-9 for drug detection. He could be rewarded with play, petting or food. He was non-aggressive, meaning he did not attack when he found drugs; instead he sat and looked at Deputy Grubar giving him the signal that he had found drugs. I really liked this presentation.
After programming a bunch of us went over to Front Page at Dupont Circle to celebrate a little before class. Professor Hardy said he expected a little celebration on St. Patrick’s Day, that’s why he didn’t want to give us the mid-term. In class we began to discuss Criminal Procedure because we finished Criminal Law. Because it was introductory, we got a bunch of cases and materials to read over, class was pretty short. Then we headed back to Front Page to meet the others who didn’t have class and were still there. It was a lot of fun and I got to interact with people from my class outside of class that I hadn’t before.
Tuesday at work Sweeta came to our office for the site visit. She is Jessica and Ira’s program advisor. Karen and I have Rob, but Sweeta was going to cover all of us while she was there. We all met in the conference room with Dave and discussed our recent projects. Sweeta was really nice and I think all went well.
All week at work we finished mailing out the letters to CRC members that are constituents of the congress members on the subcommittees. This was a huge project and I hope the CRC members write in so it was worth it. Every time we meet with staffers they want to hear whether or not this is coming from their constituents and if it is going to directly affect their district or state. That is why we want the CRC members to write in.
Friday night we went to Ballston Mall and saw another movie. Jess and I saw The Other Boleyn Girl. It was a really good movie about sister rivalry, family loyalty and betrayal. We took it easy Friday because we knew we had to get up early.
Saturday I went to two volunteer events through Greater DC Cares. The first was a soup kitchen where we prepared food for almost 1,000 people. We had to wear hair-nets and aprons while we peeled carrots for hours. The second event I liked a lot better. It was more interactive and felt less like an assembly line. We went to a nursing home called The Washington Home for a “Happy Hour”. This consisted of lemonade and lays potato chips. Our job was to go to all the floors and walk into rooms, ask them if they wanted to come listen to the piano for Happy Hour and help them down. There were only 4 volunteers there but we managed to get about 30 people down for the event. A lot of them where still very coherent and we held conversations about the music and other miscellaneous topics. I really felt like we were there for these people. One of the older ladies’s said it was so nice to see young people helping out and that we would be in a lot of prayers.
Saturday night I made homemade lasagna and invited everyone over who had not left town for Easter weekend. All of my roommates had gone home for the weekend. There were only three of us, but the lasagna was amazing.
Sunday was Easter. I went to my Cousin Gina’s house. She lives in Alexandria with her husband and 2 young boys. Jess came with me and we went to Mount Vernon in the morning before dinner. It was a really fun time. I went for a ride on the Harley and jumped on the trampoline with Jordan, the youngest. We were sent home with lots of leftovers and full stomachs.
Monday, March 24th, there was a PLS at the USDA. It was another panel that consisted of 3 women who were former members of congress and a man who was the mediator and was representing a book called Women in Congress.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Weeks 6-7
Monday, March 3rd the LCJ program students went on a tour of the Pentagon. I really enjoyed this tour. There was memorabilia along all the hallways that stretch for miles. My favorite part was the 9-11 memorial inside the building. I really learned a lot of information from the tour. The wall that the plane hit had just been reinforced with steel, otherwise the plane would have gone through all five rings, across the middle courtyard and into 3 more rings of the other side. Also, because the renovations were not quite finished in that hall, most people had their offices elsewhere and a lot of lives were saved because they had not moved back into that hall yet. I was also intrigued by the plans for the outdoor memorial that is opening September 2008. It is supposed to have a bench for each person that perished in the tragedy. The benches will be placed according to the age of the person from youngest to oldest. Also, the way the bench faces will tell you whether they died in the building or in the plane. It was a very interesting tour that I am glad I was able to attend.
Monday night in class we had a quiz. I was somewhat nervous because it was our first. After taking the quiz I felt relieved because I thought I did well. Then Professor Hardy announced that we would be taking the mid-term the following week before we even go the results of our quizzes back. He was doing this as a favor to us though, because the next Monday is St. Patrick’s Day and he didn’t want to give us the mid-term then.
Wednesday I had a flight from Dulles to Tampa. My uncle was getting married on Saturday so I was able to fly home for the wedding. I was supposed to take the metro to West Falls and then catch a bus to the airport but the metro was late and I had just missed the bus. Instead of waiting 40 minutes for the next one I asked the two other people that were in the same situation if they wanted to share a cab. We took the cab and it cost as much as the bus would because we were able to share.
The weekend at home was amazing. I was able to catch up with my good friends on Thursday and Friday before the wedding on Saturday. The weather was sunny but very cold and windy for the wedding. It was held outside at a pavilion right on the water.
Sunday’s weather was about the same but I wanted to get some sun before leaving Florida, so we went and laid by the pool anyway. It wasn’t too bad because we got a spot out of the wind.
Monday, March 10th, I returned to Virginia with my tan. It was a mess leaving the airport and I had to rush to get into the city because I had a PLS at the USDA at 2:30pm. I made it on time to hear the panelists speak about philanthropy in today’s corporations. It was not really something of my personal interests but I thought it was suitable to others in the audience. I did find it interesting when they were talking about companies who promote themselves as participating in philanthropy more for the media attention than the interest of philanthropy.
After my long flight and the lecture I headed to class for my mid-term. I was able to study a bit on the plane but not much else over the weekend. I still felt comfortable though because we had just taken the quiz last week and it wasn’t much more than that. I left class feeling like I did well on the mid-term.
The rest of the week I took to re-cooperate and catch up on everything at work. We started mailing out letters to CRC members who were represented by a house member or senator that is on the subcommittee for the joint custody resolution. We wrote asking them to write to their congress member about support for the resolution. This project was substantial and after 4 days we only got through about half the list.
Thursday and Friday I hung out with my friend Jessica that also works at CRC and her fiancé who was in town for the weekend. Thursday we watched the movie ‘Dan in real life’ with Steve Correll. It was really funny. Friday we all went to Hawk and Dove, located behind the Capitol on Pennsylvania and 3rd. Zach isn’t 21 yet so we went there because it is 18+ but the guy at the door ended up giving him a wristband anyways. It was a really fun night with Jess and her fiancé.
Saturday we had a BBQ in the courtyard at Courthouse Meridian. There were people from my class and others who I have met through TWC. It was nice weather and we were outside almost all afternoon. Then I went to see a movie with Jessica. We saw 10,000 B.C. It was playing at this small theater right by our apartment. It was good, considering we had low expectations to begin with. After the movie, I headed over to Four Courts, this Irish pub right by the apartment. A bunch of people from the BBQ had gone over there to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The Fire Marshall was there and for every person that came out one could go in. It was that crowded. I only stayed for an hour or so, it had been a long day.
Monday night in class we had a quiz. I was somewhat nervous because it was our first. After taking the quiz I felt relieved because I thought I did well. Then Professor Hardy announced that we would be taking the mid-term the following week before we even go the results of our quizzes back. He was doing this as a favor to us though, because the next Monday is St. Patrick’s Day and he didn’t want to give us the mid-term then.
Wednesday I had a flight from Dulles to Tampa. My uncle was getting married on Saturday so I was able to fly home for the wedding. I was supposed to take the metro to West Falls and then catch a bus to the airport but the metro was late and I had just missed the bus. Instead of waiting 40 minutes for the next one I asked the two other people that were in the same situation if they wanted to share a cab. We took the cab and it cost as much as the bus would because we were able to share.
The weekend at home was amazing. I was able to catch up with my good friends on Thursday and Friday before the wedding on Saturday. The weather was sunny but very cold and windy for the wedding. It was held outside at a pavilion right on the water.
Sunday’s weather was about the same but I wanted to get some sun before leaving Florida, so we went and laid by the pool anyway. It wasn’t too bad because we got a spot out of the wind.
Monday, March 10th, I returned to Virginia with my tan. It was a mess leaving the airport and I had to rush to get into the city because I had a PLS at the USDA at 2:30pm. I made it on time to hear the panelists speak about philanthropy in today’s corporations. It was not really something of my personal interests but I thought it was suitable to others in the audience. I did find it interesting when they were talking about companies who promote themselves as participating in philanthropy more for the media attention than the interest of philanthropy.
After my long flight and the lecture I headed to class for my mid-term. I was able to study a bit on the plane but not much else over the weekend. I still felt comfortable though because we had just taken the quiz last week and it wasn’t much more than that. I left class feeling like I did well on the mid-term.
The rest of the week I took to re-cooperate and catch up on everything at work. We started mailing out letters to CRC members who were represented by a house member or senator that is on the subcommittee for the joint custody resolution. We wrote asking them to write to their congress member about support for the resolution. This project was substantial and after 4 days we only got through about half the list.
Thursday and Friday I hung out with my friend Jessica that also works at CRC and her fiancé who was in town for the weekend. Thursday we watched the movie ‘Dan in real life’ with Steve Correll. It was really funny. Friday we all went to Hawk and Dove, located behind the Capitol on Pennsylvania and 3rd. Zach isn’t 21 yet so we went there because it is 18+ but the guy at the door ended up giving him a wristband anyways. It was a really fun night with Jess and her fiancé.
Saturday we had a BBQ in the courtyard at Courthouse Meridian. There were people from my class and others who I have met through TWC. It was nice weather and we were outside almost all afternoon. Then I went to see a movie with Jessica. We saw 10,000 B.C. It was playing at this small theater right by our apartment. It was good, considering we had low expectations to begin with. After the movie, I headed over to Four Courts, this Irish pub right by the apartment. A bunch of people from the BBQ had gone over there to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The Fire Marshall was there and for every person that came out one could go in. It was that crowded. I only stayed for an hour or so, it had been a long day.
Weeks 4-5
Monday February 18th was President’s day. I didn’t have to work because our office was closed and I didn’t have class either. I took the day to recover from my weekend home and catch up on some laundry.
Tuesday February 19th we all went back to work. We started calling the Senators that are on the subcommittee for S.Con.Res 59 which is the senate version of H.Con.Res 241, the Joint Custody resolution that CRC is trying to push through congress before the summer recess.
Wednesday we had appointments all day on Capitol Hill. When we were scheduling, we tried to keep all the house appointments in the morning and the senate appointments in the afternoon but it didn’t really work out that way. We ended up starting in the Senate, then had 2 appointments in the house, then we had to go back to the senate around lunch time and then back to the house in the afternoon. Our appointments were well received by the staffers and we were really optimistic about getting new cosigners for the resolution. We were exhausted from walking back and forth all day and called it a day around 4pm.
Thursday at work I looked up the Tampa contact for CRC and emailed her about collaboration on setting up an access center in the area when I return home. I am really passionate about getting one started in the Tampa/St.Petersburg area. I think it is a great resource the community could implement. I asked her to send me some research, if she had any, on the area’s demographics for the need of such facilities and asked her if she wanted to meet with me when I came in town. I also contacted my campus liaison who has connections in the Pinellas county family court system. I got contact information for the main family court judge, Judge Sullivan and Dr. Cynthia who is in charge of all the behavioral assessment for juveniles who pass through the Pinellas County court system. Hopefully I can use these contacts to find out the current need for these establishments in Pinellas County and possibly get access to funding. I am really interested in helping CRC, when I return home, set up some facilities in my area.
Thursday night I joined some fellow interns for Happy Hour at Pour House. It is right near Capitol Hill and a lot of people go there after work. It was cheap and fun.
Friday was just another research day at work. Friday night I went to Adam’s Morgan for the first time. It is supposed to be a really big college crowd on the weekends and there are lots of different places to go. There was a group of about ten of us who all went together. It was one girl’s 21st birthday. When we were walking, I saw a bar called Nolan’s. I told everyone we had to stop in because Nolan is my last name. The place was a dive but we stayed until some other places opened up and it got a little better. Then we headed over to Left Bank, which is more of a dance club. It was not very crowded at first but we got there really early. We danced the night away and ended up staying until close. Then we missed the last metro and had to take a cab all the way back to courthouse. It wasn’t too bad because there were a lot of us. We caught a van cab and all split the fare.
I was exhausted and took the rest of the weekend to recuperate and catch up on some homework. My roommates and I wanted to go to the Holocaust museum on Saturday but they were sold out so we ended up going on Sunday. We were there for over 3 hours. It was very informative and really moving. We discussed the relation to the previous weeks Darfur speaker and how even today these things still happen.
Monday February 25th was our first Presidential Lecture Series (PLS). Kevin Klose from National Public Radio (NPR) was our speaker. I really was not interested in what he was talking about and felt like he was just preaching that everyone should listen to public radio. He tried to incorporate today’s technology with the internet and satellite radio but I think it was still dated. I guess it just isn’t something I listen to or am passionate about or that I ever think about so it was kind of boring for me personally.
After the speaker I met up with some of my classmates and we headed in the direction of class. It was only about 4pm and class doesn’t start until 6pm so we went to this place called Stoney’s that is near the Hotel Rouge where class is held. We got a bite to eat and shared a pitcher of beer then headed to class. It was a good way to pass the time and get to know some of my classmates I had not talked to before. Class was really interesting. We discussed Robbery, Kidnapping and Statutory Rape. Everyone was able to share their opinions about the subjects and then we went over what the Model Penal Code (MPC) states.
Tuesday February 26th I had my first Congressional Speaker series. These are grouped by location and there were about 6 students from various Florida schools and about 30 from the Puerto Rico program. I sort of felt bad for our speaker, Congressman Adam Putnam of Florida’s 12th district because there were so few of us. I thought he was an excellent speaker. He was very young, 35, and had been in congress for 8 years already. He spoke about how we need some younger congress members who are more in touch with today’s generational problems. He was also very receptive to questions and answered them thoroughly. I got up and asked him what his opinion were about Florida’s failing education system and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). After the Q&A we all gathered round for a picture and I ended up right next to him and we chatted about where I went to school and where I lived while the photographer placed everyone around us.
Wednesday February 27th the other interns from the office and I went to Capitol Hill by ourselves. Our supervisor, Dave, said that we had done an excellent job the week before and that he felt comfortable we could handle the appointments by ourselves. I thought that was amazing that he had that much faith in us. We did do very well by ourselves and if someone asked a question that we were not sure on the exact answer, we told them we would send them more information on it when we got back to the office.
Thursday and Friday I wrote testimonials for the Annapolis Senate Court Hearings that were going to be taking place the following Tuesday. I really wanted to attend the hearings and read the testimonials in front of the court but our supervisor was leaving town that Tuesday and we had no way to get there. He said we would attend another hearing at a later date. The first testimonial (SB 531) I wrote was about changing the number of days someone can leave an unharmed newborn at a safe haven from 3 to 10. I wrote in favor of this change for many reasons and feel like it gives these children the opportunity for a healthy life with someone who can take care of them. The second testimonial (SB385) I wrote on behalf of dealt with the termination of parental rights without consent for a child conceived of rape. Of course, if a child is conceived from rape the rapist should not have parental rights. I was discouraged that the bill had no clause for ongoing cases, because most convictions take longer than 9 months, and encouraged the sponsors to include this in the bill before it passed. The third senate bill (SB 609) I actually wrote in opposition of because of the wording of a few parts. The bill was to put a 100 mile cap on the distance a custodial parent could move with the child. First of all, I wrote that 100 miles was too mush and that the distance need not be codified in the bill because it would encourage hostile parents to move as far away as they could. Second, the bill contained a paragraph that stated the motivations of the opposing, non-custodial, parent had to be questioned. This paragraph was very prejudicial to the non-custodial parent and I thought should be re-worded to include the motives of both parents.
Friday and Saturday night I went with a few friends to McFadden’s which is off Foggy-Bottom and really close to my apartment. It was really fun, crowded and had great music to dance to. We also got to know the bartenders, which is always helpful.
Tuesday February 19th we all went back to work. We started calling the Senators that are on the subcommittee for S.Con.Res 59 which is the senate version of H.Con.Res 241, the Joint Custody resolution that CRC is trying to push through congress before the summer recess.
Wednesday we had appointments all day on Capitol Hill. When we were scheduling, we tried to keep all the house appointments in the morning and the senate appointments in the afternoon but it didn’t really work out that way. We ended up starting in the Senate, then had 2 appointments in the house, then we had to go back to the senate around lunch time and then back to the house in the afternoon. Our appointments were well received by the staffers and we were really optimistic about getting new cosigners for the resolution. We were exhausted from walking back and forth all day and called it a day around 4pm.
Thursday at work I looked up the Tampa contact for CRC and emailed her about collaboration on setting up an access center in the area when I return home. I am really passionate about getting one started in the Tampa/St.Petersburg area. I think it is a great resource the community could implement. I asked her to send me some research, if she had any, on the area’s demographics for the need of such facilities and asked her if she wanted to meet with me when I came in town. I also contacted my campus liaison who has connections in the Pinellas county family court system. I got contact information for the main family court judge, Judge Sullivan and Dr. Cynthia who is in charge of all the behavioral assessment for juveniles who pass through the Pinellas County court system. Hopefully I can use these contacts to find out the current need for these establishments in Pinellas County and possibly get access to funding. I am really interested in helping CRC, when I return home, set up some facilities in my area.
Thursday night I joined some fellow interns for Happy Hour at Pour House. It is right near Capitol Hill and a lot of people go there after work. It was cheap and fun.
Friday was just another research day at work. Friday night I went to Adam’s Morgan for the first time. It is supposed to be a really big college crowd on the weekends and there are lots of different places to go. There was a group of about ten of us who all went together. It was one girl’s 21st birthday. When we were walking, I saw a bar called Nolan’s. I told everyone we had to stop in because Nolan is my last name. The place was a dive but we stayed until some other places opened up and it got a little better. Then we headed over to Left Bank, which is more of a dance club. It was not very crowded at first but we got there really early. We danced the night away and ended up staying until close. Then we missed the last metro and had to take a cab all the way back to courthouse. It wasn’t too bad because there were a lot of us. We caught a van cab and all split the fare.
I was exhausted and took the rest of the weekend to recuperate and catch up on some homework. My roommates and I wanted to go to the Holocaust museum on Saturday but they were sold out so we ended up going on Sunday. We were there for over 3 hours. It was very informative and really moving. We discussed the relation to the previous weeks Darfur speaker and how even today these things still happen.
Monday February 25th was our first Presidential Lecture Series (PLS). Kevin Klose from National Public Radio (NPR) was our speaker. I really was not interested in what he was talking about and felt like he was just preaching that everyone should listen to public radio. He tried to incorporate today’s technology with the internet and satellite radio but I think it was still dated. I guess it just isn’t something I listen to or am passionate about or that I ever think about so it was kind of boring for me personally.
After the speaker I met up with some of my classmates and we headed in the direction of class. It was only about 4pm and class doesn’t start until 6pm so we went to this place called Stoney’s that is near the Hotel Rouge where class is held. We got a bite to eat and shared a pitcher of beer then headed to class. It was a good way to pass the time and get to know some of my classmates I had not talked to before. Class was really interesting. We discussed Robbery, Kidnapping and Statutory Rape. Everyone was able to share their opinions about the subjects and then we went over what the Model Penal Code (MPC) states.
Tuesday February 26th I had my first Congressional Speaker series. These are grouped by location and there were about 6 students from various Florida schools and about 30 from the Puerto Rico program. I sort of felt bad for our speaker, Congressman Adam Putnam of Florida’s 12th district because there were so few of us. I thought he was an excellent speaker. He was very young, 35, and had been in congress for 8 years already. He spoke about how we need some younger congress members who are more in touch with today’s generational problems. He was also very receptive to questions and answered them thoroughly. I got up and asked him what his opinion were about Florida’s failing education system and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). After the Q&A we all gathered round for a picture and I ended up right next to him and we chatted about where I went to school and where I lived while the photographer placed everyone around us.
Wednesday February 27th the other interns from the office and I went to Capitol Hill by ourselves. Our supervisor, Dave, said that we had done an excellent job the week before and that he felt comfortable we could handle the appointments by ourselves. I thought that was amazing that he had that much faith in us. We did do very well by ourselves and if someone asked a question that we were not sure on the exact answer, we told them we would send them more information on it when we got back to the office.
Thursday and Friday I wrote testimonials for the Annapolis Senate Court Hearings that were going to be taking place the following Tuesday. I really wanted to attend the hearings and read the testimonials in front of the court but our supervisor was leaving town that Tuesday and we had no way to get there. He said we would attend another hearing at a later date. The first testimonial (SB 531) I wrote was about changing the number of days someone can leave an unharmed newborn at a safe haven from 3 to 10. I wrote in favor of this change for many reasons and feel like it gives these children the opportunity for a healthy life with someone who can take care of them. The second testimonial (SB385) I wrote on behalf of dealt with the termination of parental rights without consent for a child conceived of rape. Of course, if a child is conceived from rape the rapist should not have parental rights. I was discouraged that the bill had no clause for ongoing cases, because most convictions take longer than 9 months, and encouraged the sponsors to include this in the bill before it passed. The third senate bill (SB 609) I actually wrote in opposition of because of the wording of a few parts. The bill was to put a 100 mile cap on the distance a custodial parent could move with the child. First of all, I wrote that 100 miles was too mush and that the distance need not be codified in the bill because it would encourage hostile parents to move as far away as they could. Second, the bill contained a paragraph that stated the motivations of the opposing, non-custodial, parent had to be questioned. This paragraph was very prejudicial to the non-custodial parent and I thought should be re-worded to include the motives of both parents.
Friday and Saturday night I went with a few friends to McFadden’s which is off Foggy-Bottom and really close to my apartment. It was really fun, crowded and had great music to dance to. We also got to know the bartenders, which is always helpful.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Learning Objective Statement
Learning Objective Statement
I am interning at the Children’s Rights Council. CRC is a non-profit organization that serves the rights of children. CRC’s current mission is to ensure that all children have equal access to both parents. “The best parent is both parents,” is the mission statement of the organization. CRC advocates mostly for children who come from divorced, never married or separated families. They provide supervised visit sites and safe transfer sites for the non-custodial parent to be in a safe environment with the children and the other parent. These neutral meeting zones are called access centers. CRC operates about forty access centers nation wide and is striving to increase that number everyday with the help of community centers.
As a CRC intern, my responsibilities include pushing legislation through Congress for presumed or preferred joint parenting. Currently, H.Con.Res.-241 and S.Con.Res- 49 are the resolutions that have been introduced. I have been calling committee and subcommittee members setting up meetings with the staffer in charge of children and family issues and then our team meets with them and tries to persuade the staffer that their particular Congress member should co-sponsor the resolution.
CRC is also working on other projects at the moment. Such as, supporting a National Children’s Day because America is one of the only developed countries that does not have a day to honor children. CRC also focuses on testifying on behalf of current bills that it feels are necessary or opposing bills that would be detrimental to children. Another one of my roles as a CRC intern is gathering research in the field of forensic psychology’s newest issues, such as false accusations and coaching, shared parenting and child sexual abuse.
I enjoy interning at CRC. I feel like the work I am doing is part of the organizations mission. I feel that in the short amount of time that I have been there I have already made a difference and I can only imagine how much more I can do in the upcoming weeks. I am taking Intro to Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure with Professor Hardy. This is a brand new subject area for me, but one that I am passionate about and that will be very beneficial to my future career. Professor Hardy is making the topic fun, easy to learn and exciting. He seems to be very knowledgeable and knows how to convey the knowledge to others. I feel like this internship, The Washington Center and CRC are helping me grow as a person everyday and helping me reach goals in all aspects of life that will last a lifetime.
Academic Goals:
I) I am graduating and applying for graduate school after this semester. My goal is to learn as much about how the learning/teaching process differs in graduate school, from Professor Hardy who teaches Law school, so that I will be prepared when entering into my first year in graduate school.
· Method: When in class, I will ask a lot of questions and participate in the discussions.
· Method: I will observe Professor Hardy’s teaching style throughout the term and compare it to my previous undergraduate professors’.
· Method: I will ask Professor Hardy towards the end of class and towards the end of the semester if he has any advice that he can share, not only with me but with the entire class.
II) I want to get a Ph.D. in Psychology and specialize in forensics. My goal is to obtain knowledge through this class that will help me towards that career. I want to have a deep understanding of the material that will stay with me, not just learn what I need to for the moment.
· Method: I will read and re-read the assigned material. I will not speed read or read just to get through the text.
· Method: I will actively participate in the class discussions. Sometimes things can be viewed different ways and understanding that helps to understand the true meaning.
· Method: If I do not understand a concept that I have read, I will bring it up for discussion.
Professional Goals:
I) My goal is to meet other intern through The Washington Center that share my same commitment and dedication to children and are interested in the same type of career I am. Not necessarily forensic psychology but others who are interested in helping children. I think creating a network now of people who are passionate about the same things I am, will help build a strong network for my future career.
· I will attend as many TWC sponsored events held in Washington and through the RA’s held at the housing sites as possible.
· I will be sociable and try to meet new people by initiating conversations.
· I will try to meet people through my civic engagement projects as well. I will be working with children and I’m sure who ever is there volunteering to work with children is passionate about helping kids.
II) Once I am a forensic Psychologist, I will be interacting in court and with lawyers frequently. My education and knowledge base is in the field of Psychology. I am trying to learn through experience the particular field of law I will be working with. My goal is to learn the culture differences so that during these future interactions I can appease those I am meeting with.
· While on Capitol Hill, I will observe the speech, body language and articulation of those who work there, because 90% of them have some type of law degree or background.
· While in the office, I will focus on using more professional speech, even when conversing with other interns.
· When conducting my research, I will try to maintain as much of the law “lingo” as possible. Remembering the common acronyms and abbreviations that are used in the practice of the law is important if you are going to be around people who use them frequently.
Civic Goals:
I) There are so many opportunities in the D.C. area to volunteer. My goal is to explore a wide array of civic engagement projects so that I can find something that is easily accessible, fulfilling and that I would continue doing at home in my own community.
· I will explore TWC’s recommendations for civic engagement projects.
· I will search the internet for sites that I am interested in working with.
· I will discuss with my colleagues opportunities that they have come across.
· I will keep my mind open to new possibilities and new opportunities until I find something that I feel really suits my needs and interests as well as the community’s.
II) My goal is to learn more about how non-profit organizations function so I can better serve my community when I return home. If I better understand the funding process, I can help different local organizations receive the help they need.
· I will attend optional board meetings at my internship to understand the funding process and how to write grants.
· I will volunteer at other non-profits so that I can compare and contrast the different organizational functions.
· I will volunteer to lead projects at my internship that involve grant writing and funding opportunities for the organization.
Personal Goals:
I) I am a graduating senior and will be entering the workforce very shortly. Most people don’t think that your personal life influences your professional life but most of the time it does. Sacrifices have to be made and priorities need to be outlined. My goal is to be able to integrate my personal and professional lives so that I can be successful, free-spirited and fun-loving at the same time.
· I will keep in mind that no matter where I am or who I am with I need to present my self like my boss or colleagues might be there.
· I will not suppress my care-free spirit at work; I will integrate it into current projects.
· I will prioritize my projects and my personal plans accordingly so there is time for both and they all get done on time.
II) I don’t have a lot of female friends back home. My goal is to take this opportunity to create friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime and to learn from all these people I have the opportunity to meet. Everyone is from a different part of the country or even the world, integrating all the cultural differences and learning from new people will definitely help me in the future.
· I will be open to everyone’s ideas and listen to why they have that idea.
· I will make sure that others understand me when I am sharing an idea with them.
· I will try to teach someone something new everyday and I will also try to learn something new form someone everyday.
I am interning at the Children’s Rights Council. CRC is a non-profit organization that serves the rights of children. CRC’s current mission is to ensure that all children have equal access to both parents. “The best parent is both parents,” is the mission statement of the organization. CRC advocates mostly for children who come from divorced, never married or separated families. They provide supervised visit sites and safe transfer sites for the non-custodial parent to be in a safe environment with the children and the other parent. These neutral meeting zones are called access centers. CRC operates about forty access centers nation wide and is striving to increase that number everyday with the help of community centers.
As a CRC intern, my responsibilities include pushing legislation through Congress for presumed or preferred joint parenting. Currently, H.Con.Res.-241 and S.Con.Res- 49 are the resolutions that have been introduced. I have been calling committee and subcommittee members setting up meetings with the staffer in charge of children and family issues and then our team meets with them and tries to persuade the staffer that their particular Congress member should co-sponsor the resolution.
CRC is also working on other projects at the moment. Such as, supporting a National Children’s Day because America is one of the only developed countries that does not have a day to honor children. CRC also focuses on testifying on behalf of current bills that it feels are necessary or opposing bills that would be detrimental to children. Another one of my roles as a CRC intern is gathering research in the field of forensic psychology’s newest issues, such as false accusations and coaching, shared parenting and child sexual abuse.
I enjoy interning at CRC. I feel like the work I am doing is part of the organizations mission. I feel that in the short amount of time that I have been there I have already made a difference and I can only imagine how much more I can do in the upcoming weeks. I am taking Intro to Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure with Professor Hardy. This is a brand new subject area for me, but one that I am passionate about and that will be very beneficial to my future career. Professor Hardy is making the topic fun, easy to learn and exciting. He seems to be very knowledgeable and knows how to convey the knowledge to others. I feel like this internship, The Washington Center and CRC are helping me grow as a person everyday and helping me reach goals in all aspects of life that will last a lifetime.
Academic Goals:
I) I am graduating and applying for graduate school after this semester. My goal is to learn as much about how the learning/teaching process differs in graduate school, from Professor Hardy who teaches Law school, so that I will be prepared when entering into my first year in graduate school.
· Method: When in class, I will ask a lot of questions and participate in the discussions.
· Method: I will observe Professor Hardy’s teaching style throughout the term and compare it to my previous undergraduate professors’.
· Method: I will ask Professor Hardy towards the end of class and towards the end of the semester if he has any advice that he can share, not only with me but with the entire class.
II) I want to get a Ph.D. in Psychology and specialize in forensics. My goal is to obtain knowledge through this class that will help me towards that career. I want to have a deep understanding of the material that will stay with me, not just learn what I need to for the moment.
· Method: I will read and re-read the assigned material. I will not speed read or read just to get through the text.
· Method: I will actively participate in the class discussions. Sometimes things can be viewed different ways and understanding that helps to understand the true meaning.
· Method: If I do not understand a concept that I have read, I will bring it up for discussion.
Professional Goals:
I) My goal is to meet other intern through The Washington Center that share my same commitment and dedication to children and are interested in the same type of career I am. Not necessarily forensic psychology but others who are interested in helping children. I think creating a network now of people who are passionate about the same things I am, will help build a strong network for my future career.
· I will attend as many TWC sponsored events held in Washington and through the RA’s held at the housing sites as possible.
· I will be sociable and try to meet new people by initiating conversations.
· I will try to meet people through my civic engagement projects as well. I will be working with children and I’m sure who ever is there volunteering to work with children is passionate about helping kids.
II) Once I am a forensic Psychologist, I will be interacting in court and with lawyers frequently. My education and knowledge base is in the field of Psychology. I am trying to learn through experience the particular field of law I will be working with. My goal is to learn the culture differences so that during these future interactions I can appease those I am meeting with.
· While on Capitol Hill, I will observe the speech, body language and articulation of those who work there, because 90% of them have some type of law degree or background.
· While in the office, I will focus on using more professional speech, even when conversing with other interns.
· When conducting my research, I will try to maintain as much of the law “lingo” as possible. Remembering the common acronyms and abbreviations that are used in the practice of the law is important if you are going to be around people who use them frequently.
Civic Goals:
I) There are so many opportunities in the D.C. area to volunteer. My goal is to explore a wide array of civic engagement projects so that I can find something that is easily accessible, fulfilling and that I would continue doing at home in my own community.
· I will explore TWC’s recommendations for civic engagement projects.
· I will search the internet for sites that I am interested in working with.
· I will discuss with my colleagues opportunities that they have come across.
· I will keep my mind open to new possibilities and new opportunities until I find something that I feel really suits my needs and interests as well as the community’s.
II) My goal is to learn more about how non-profit organizations function so I can better serve my community when I return home. If I better understand the funding process, I can help different local organizations receive the help they need.
· I will attend optional board meetings at my internship to understand the funding process and how to write grants.
· I will volunteer at other non-profits so that I can compare and contrast the different organizational functions.
· I will volunteer to lead projects at my internship that involve grant writing and funding opportunities for the organization.
Personal Goals:
I) I am a graduating senior and will be entering the workforce very shortly. Most people don’t think that your personal life influences your professional life but most of the time it does. Sacrifices have to be made and priorities need to be outlined. My goal is to be able to integrate my personal and professional lives so that I can be successful, free-spirited and fun-loving at the same time.
· I will keep in mind that no matter where I am or who I am with I need to present my self like my boss or colleagues might be there.
· I will not suppress my care-free spirit at work; I will integrate it into current projects.
· I will prioritize my projects and my personal plans accordingly so there is time for both and they all get done on time.
II) I don’t have a lot of female friends back home. My goal is to take this opportunity to create friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime and to learn from all these people I have the opportunity to meet. Everyone is from a different part of the country or even the world, integrating all the cultural differences and learning from new people will definitely help me in the future.
· I will be open to everyone’s ideas and listen to why they have that idea.
· I will make sure that others understand me when I am sharing an idea with them.
· I will try to teach someone something new everyday and I will also try to learn something new form someone everyday.
Weeks 2-3: February 18th, 2008
Last Monday, February 4th, the Criminal Justice program hosted John Miller of the FBI as our weekly guest speaker. I really thought he was a great, inspiring speaker. He talked about his career as a journalist and a television broadcaster. Miller spoke about following his instincts and not necessarily sticking to one path. He said it was important to have dreams and desires about what you want to do in life, but when opportunities arise you should take every one as it comes. What I got from his speech was that you may have a dream about what you want in life and when following a path towards that dream you discover another, maybe better path to follow. I really thought Miller’s speech was inspiring because I think I know what I want to do with my life, but then I am also afraid of what might happen if I don’t end up down that path. The “take home message” I got from Miller’s speech was that life is about the journey, not the destination.
Tuesday and Wednesday I was really sick. I went home early from work on Tuesday and had a fever of 102.4. I tried to get a hold of my doctor to see if they could send me some medicine but they wouldn’t. After sleeping for two days straight, I felt a little better and returned to work on Thursday.
Thursday at work our supervisor, Dave, took us grocery shopping because Friday we were having a reception at work for the Board of Directors. There were about twenty board members from across the country showed up for the annual meeting. Another intern, Jessica and I attended the meeting and helped take notes for the meeting minutes. During the meeting, they talked about financing, strategic planning, access center training and other various topics. It was very interesting to sit in on the meeting and hear the topics being discussed. After the meeting, we held a reception in the office where everyone enjoyed the food we had prepared on Thursday. Our supervisor was very impressed and appreciative of the job we did preparing for the meeting and the reception.
Over the weekend I really didn’t do much. I was still exhausted from being sick and I just stayed in my apartment and got some rest. The weather was not very good to go out in anyway.
This past Monday, February 11th, I went to the Darfur speaker. I thought it was very informative and the speaker was very passionate because he was an actual refugee from Darfur. I felt very compassionate for the cause and want to write my congress members about getting support for the resolving the conflict and the genocide in Darfur.
After the Darfur speaker I had class at the Hotel Rouge. Because the speakers are usually done around 4:30 on Mondays and we have class at 6, some of our class goes over to the Hotel to hang out and pass the time. The hotel was renovating the front lobby so we all hung out in the “dark” room in the back. It was really fun to be sociable with people from class and get to talk about other topics. Our class is mostly discussion so it helps to know the other people’s backgrounds and personalities. That way in class it is easier to understand when people have differing opinions.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were back to work at the office. We went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to gain more support for the joint custody resolution. We even stopped into Barack Obama’s senate office, which was really cool. Our supervisor Dave knows someone in the office, so it wasn’t a meeting but a hi/by kind of stopping in.
Thursday was Valentine’s Day and I flew home. My flight was really early out of Dulles and the super shuttle picked me up at 4:30 a.m. I had a picnic on the beach when I got to Florida, it was so perfect. The weather was beautiful and I couldn’t have asked for more. Saturday was my grandfather’s 75th birthday and I had planned a surprise party for him. He didn’t know that I came in town for the weekend and he started crying when I walked in to the restaurant. It was really nice to go home for the weekend and see everyone. I got back last night, Sunday and the weather was good, but not 85 degrees like it was when I left Florida.
Tuesday and Wednesday I was really sick. I went home early from work on Tuesday and had a fever of 102.4. I tried to get a hold of my doctor to see if they could send me some medicine but they wouldn’t. After sleeping for two days straight, I felt a little better and returned to work on Thursday.
Thursday at work our supervisor, Dave, took us grocery shopping because Friday we were having a reception at work for the Board of Directors. There were about twenty board members from across the country showed up for the annual meeting. Another intern, Jessica and I attended the meeting and helped take notes for the meeting minutes. During the meeting, they talked about financing, strategic planning, access center training and other various topics. It was very interesting to sit in on the meeting and hear the topics being discussed. After the meeting, we held a reception in the office where everyone enjoyed the food we had prepared on Thursday. Our supervisor was very impressed and appreciative of the job we did preparing for the meeting and the reception.
Over the weekend I really didn’t do much. I was still exhausted from being sick and I just stayed in my apartment and got some rest. The weather was not very good to go out in anyway.
This past Monday, February 11th, I went to the Darfur speaker. I thought it was very informative and the speaker was very passionate because he was an actual refugee from Darfur. I felt very compassionate for the cause and want to write my congress members about getting support for the resolving the conflict and the genocide in Darfur.
After the Darfur speaker I had class at the Hotel Rouge. Because the speakers are usually done around 4:30 on Mondays and we have class at 6, some of our class goes over to the Hotel to hang out and pass the time. The hotel was renovating the front lobby so we all hung out in the “dark” room in the back. It was really fun to be sociable with people from class and get to talk about other topics. Our class is mostly discussion so it helps to know the other people’s backgrounds and personalities. That way in class it is easier to understand when people have differing opinions.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were back to work at the office. We went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to gain more support for the joint custody resolution. We even stopped into Barack Obama’s senate office, which was really cool. Our supervisor Dave knows someone in the office, so it wasn’t a meeting but a hi/by kind of stopping in.
Thursday was Valentine’s Day and I flew home. My flight was really early out of Dulles and the super shuttle picked me up at 4:30 a.m. I had a picnic on the beach when I got to Florida, it was so perfect. The weather was beautiful and I couldn’t have asked for more. Saturday was my grandfather’s 75th birthday and I had planned a surprise party for him. He didn’t know that I came in town for the weekend and he started crying when I walked in to the restaurant. It was really nice to go home for the weekend and see everyone. I got back last night, Sunday and the weather was good, but not 85 degrees like it was when I left Florida.
Week 1: February 4th, 2008
This was my first full work week at the Children’s Rights Council. David Levy, our site supervisor picked me and the 3 other interns that are working there up on Friday after orientation. He drove us up to Maryland and showed us the building so we would know how to get there. He seems like a very nice, dedicated person. We were then able to take the metro back, so we would know how to come to work on Monday. Out of the four interns, three of us live in Arlington at Courthouse and the fourth at Grovsner in Maryland. I am able to meet the other two interns that live in my building in the lobby and we all commute together.
Over the weekend I took time to unpack and settle in. I got to spend some time with my room mates to get to know them. We all went grocery shopping about four times and still didn’t get everything we need for the apartment. I went to school with an intern from last semester that moved up here and she also showed me around Georgetown this weekend.
Monday was a half day at work and was more of an introduction than anything. We don’t start until 9:30 and when everyone gets in the office around 10:00 we have a meeting to go over the projects. Dave gave us a list of projects that CRC is currently working on and we all got to choose which projects we would work on according to what we thought was interesting to us. I thought that was excellent, I was expecting to be given something tedious to do the first few weeks.
Monday night was also my first day of class. I am in the Intro to Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure class with Professor Hardy. He seemed to be a very bright, intellectual person, but also very understanding and down to earth. The class didn’t cover much because it was the first day and no one had books yet. Professor Hardy did give us a brief introduction to the three main reasons for Criminal Law; Reformation, Retribution and Restraint.
Throughout the week at CRC we all jumped right into the projects. I am interested in forensic psychology, especially working with children in the juvenile justice system. There were a few projects I thought would be very interesting and beneficial experiences for my career goals. The first project I started working on is trying to gain support and cosponsors from the House of Representatives for a Joint Custody Resolution (H.Con.Res-241). I looked up the website for the Reps and then had to call and find out what committee the Resolution had been assigned to, the Judiciary Committee. Then I had to call and find out what subcommittee it had been assigned to, the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee. After I found out what subcommittee it was referred to, we called the offices of the House members that were on that subcommittee, and asked what Legislative Assistant (LA) was in charge of that subcommittee, because you don’t deal directly with the House member. We set up three appointments for Friday and six for Monday. Friday was our first day lobbying on Capitol Hill and it was pouring rain outside. We parked about eight blocks away and were all soaked when we got there. Other than the wet start, the day went pretty well. Capitol Hill was a little more casual than I had imagined and the offices were not as large or frightening as I had imagined.
Over the weekend I took time to unpack and settle in. I got to spend some time with my room mates to get to know them. We all went grocery shopping about four times and still didn’t get everything we need for the apartment. I went to school with an intern from last semester that moved up here and she also showed me around Georgetown this weekend.
Monday was a half day at work and was more of an introduction than anything. We don’t start until 9:30 and when everyone gets in the office around 10:00 we have a meeting to go over the projects. Dave gave us a list of projects that CRC is currently working on and we all got to choose which projects we would work on according to what we thought was interesting to us. I thought that was excellent, I was expecting to be given something tedious to do the first few weeks.
Monday night was also my first day of class. I am in the Intro to Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure class with Professor Hardy. He seemed to be a very bright, intellectual person, but also very understanding and down to earth. The class didn’t cover much because it was the first day and no one had books yet. Professor Hardy did give us a brief introduction to the three main reasons for Criminal Law; Reformation, Retribution and Restraint.
Throughout the week at CRC we all jumped right into the projects. I am interested in forensic psychology, especially working with children in the juvenile justice system. There were a few projects I thought would be very interesting and beneficial experiences for my career goals. The first project I started working on is trying to gain support and cosponsors from the House of Representatives for a Joint Custody Resolution (H.Con.Res-241). I looked up the website for the Reps and then had to call and find out what committee the Resolution had been assigned to, the Judiciary Committee. Then I had to call and find out what subcommittee it had been assigned to, the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee. After I found out what subcommittee it was referred to, we called the offices of the House members that were on that subcommittee, and asked what Legislative Assistant (LA) was in charge of that subcommittee, because you don’t deal directly with the House member. We set up three appointments for Friday and six for Monday. Friday was our first day lobbying on Capitol Hill and it was pouring rain outside. We parked about eight blocks away and were all soaked when we got there. Other than the wet start, the day went pretty well. Capitol Hill was a little more casual than I had imagined and the offices were not as large or frightening as I had imagined.
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