Hey all,
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| The DAR in Constitution Hall |
Today started with the last few sessions of orientation. All the TWC interns met at the Department of the Interior first thing in the morning. My three roommates are in the law program here, but since it was a mandatory meeting for everyone we rode the metro together. It was actually a really nice temperature this morning, around 8-8:30. 20 degrees or so. Walking from the metro we passed by some amazing buildings, including the DC headquarters for the Daughters of the American Revolution. It's quite an impressive building. Actually, now that I think about it, everything in DC is impressive. All the buildings are huge, the steps are big, the pillars are big, the paths in the National Mall are big, the Washington Monument is big... Anyways back to the Department of the Interior. All 660 TWC interns met there this morning, and we were welcomed by the Chief Operating Officer, Jennifer Clinton. She encouraged us to put into this internship what we want to get out of it. She talked a lot about not just being good, but being great, and how we need to take advantage of the opportunities we are going to have during these 10 weeks. On that note, The President of TWC talked to the International Affairs group yesterday, and he explained the 10-70-20 rule. Whether it be a major corporation, a government department or a non-profit organization, there are three types of people. 10% of the people in a corporation during a year are in the will be fired, or are in the process of being fired. 70% of the people are doing a good job, keeping the corporation on track, and 20% are building to the organization, and being innovative. He challenged us to be in the top 20%. I thought it was quite inspiring.
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| My roommates, walking bossy. From the left Aliya from Stockton College in New Jersey, Prium from Rutgers University also in New Jersey, and Janelle from the University of Central Florida. |
Then we got the run-down from some other TWC employees on professional dress, sexual harassment, how to make a good impression, and how to be professional when it comes to using technology. Did you know that the Library of Congress keeps records of every Tweet ever posted? Even Facebook the government can get their hands on all of that information. Even if it was deleted, or you deleted your entire profile, they can still access the history of FB and whatever you deleted. One of the directors of Student Life, Chris Mason talked a little bit about networking, and the power greet. I went to a breakout session on networking later in the afternoon, and he had a lot really good pointers.
We also had a motivational speech given to us by Marvin Worthy about diversity, and becoming great. He was very engaging, and spoke like a Baptist Preacher. He talked about his childhood in South Carolina, and his teenage years in North Philadelphia. He shared some unbelievable anecdotes about racism that he experienced growing up in the 60s-70s and 80s. He used this really great metaphor of a salad as he was describing what diversity is. I know it sounds kind of lame right now, but he had the whole rooms attention for an hour or so. He said we need to build relationships from the inside out, and we can't afford to only interact with people like ourselves. When we interact with people across religion, race, ethnic borders we don't lose ourselves, we share ourselves. He encouraged us to be hungry for knowledge at the cost of our comfort, and to appreciate being chosen from TWC.
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| Auditorium at the Department of the Interior |
So that orientation wrapped up at around noon. We came back to the RAF, had a quick lunch and went to some break out sessions. One of the projects I have to do is called a Civic Engagement Project, which means some sort of work in the community volunteering. So I went to session about that, and it started with a great video about human empathy. The Empathic Civilization
After dinner, I went out running with my roommate Janelle. We decided to run south to Capitol Hill, which only took us 5 minutes, and then all of the sudden the Supreme Court was right there, and Capitol Hill. Then like a true DC-er, we ran down the National Mall, past all the amazing Smithsonian museums, circled around the Washington Monument, waived at the White House, then headed back. It was about a 5 mile loop. But as we were just passing by the Canadian Embassy, a storm quickly blew in, and it got really windy, then started to pour almost instantaneously. All the tourists went a little crazy running for shelter, but we just kept on going, because we didn't really have a choice. We brought our metro passes just in case so we thought about ducking into the metro, but the rain subsided and we didn't need it use it. We got soaking wet, but we both laughed about it, saying it would make for a good story on our blogs :).
After dinner, I went out running with my roommate Janelle. We decided to run south to Capitol Hill, which only took us 5 minutes, and then all of the sudden the Supreme Court was right there, and Capitol Hill. Then like a true DC-er, we ran down the National Mall, past all the amazing Smithsonian museums, circled around the Washington Monument, waived at the White House, then headed back. It was about a 5 mile loop. But as we were just passing by the Canadian Embassy, a storm quickly blew in, and it got really windy, then started to pour almost instantaneously. All the tourists went a little crazy running for shelter, but we just kept on going, because we didn't really have a choice. We brought our metro passes just in case so we thought about ducking into the metro, but the rain subsided and we didn't need it use it. We got soaking wet, but we both laughed about it, saying it would make for a good story on our blogs :).
