Senate Chamber Visit

What an exciting day today! In the morning we got the opportunity to tour the Senate Chamber, which is rare for the public to see. When we went through security I was very surprised that the Senate side of the Capitol was much stricter than the House of Representatives side. We were prohibited from bringing any food or drinks in with us, which I found interesting because no other building did this. But, once we entered through security we made our way to the Chamber. This chamber absolutely breathtaking and is ornately decorated. It is set up differently from the House Chamber, which is much bigger and does not have desks. In the Senate Chamber, each Senator is assigned a desk based upon their seniority. The more seniority a member has, the closer to the front they will sit. Our professor also told us how each Senator will engrave their names into the desk. I love learning about these unique facts that most people are unaware of.

In the afternoon we got to meet Senator Mark Begich of Alaska. This was different from our other meetings with Senators because Alaska is different from the rest of the states due to its geographical location. I always wondered what it would be like to be a Senator or Congressman that has to travel such long distances to get back and forth from their home state to Washington D.C. Senator Begich described the challenges of having this distance, in relation to his family life and connecting to his constituents. The way he has balanced his family and work is by moving to the District. He believes this was an important move because it is difficult to maintain a normal family life when you only spend a limited time together. Senator Begich walks his son to school every morning, which proves his dedication to his family while also working such a prestigious job. I thought this spoke a lot to his character and to the type of father that he is. I was impressed by his concerns for both his family and constituents. I would hope the other members of government would also try to keep this balance in their lives.

Work, Work, Work!

I’ve had a very successful week at my internship. My attorneys are becoming more comfortable with my abilities, so they are giving me more responsibilities. On Thursday I finished a project that was given to me to complete by next week. I first had to complete a case summary, and then I was asked to write a Termination of Parental Rights Timeline of all the important information and the dates of the hearings. This job was tedious because I had to search through the complete case folder to find the important information. When I was finished with that task, I then had to make a copy of every court report and order for that case. This task took all morning to complete. In the afternoon, I was approached by Tobey to complete a task for her once she left the office. She asked me to sort through all of her case folders to find the two most recent orders given by the court. She also wanted me to note the next court date for each case. Having this information compiled into one document would help her organize and stay up -to- date on all of her cases. She has two full drawers of case folders, so I had to work all day today to complete this task. At first this task was challenging because many of the case folders are badly organized. But, once a few of them were completed it was easier for me to know where to look for this information. The task eventually became easier and faster to complete. It still took me from 9:30 to 5:30 to complete though. I put so much time and effort, I hope my attorney appreciates and approves of my work.

Overall, I felt this week was very productive. However, I am looking forward to this weekend so I can actually sleep in past 7:00am. I can’t sleep in too late though because there is always work to do! With a midterm on Wednesday and many other homework assignments, there isn’t much time to relax. Work, work, work! Hopefully I can make it through one more week until we have Spring Break!

Federal Judges and Agencies

Yesterday we had two very interesting seminars. In the morning, we got the opportunity to watch a Federal Court case and then speak to U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina. The case we witness was particularly interesting because it began with reviewing business documents that were exchanged between the plaintiff and the defendant. These were hard to follow and were not very interesting at some points, but then the case turn a dramatic turn. The defendant told the jury how he had to leave work on an extended amount of time because of his psychologist ordered him to for his health. This man became extremely upset at this point and began hysterically crying. Judge Urbina had to call a 10 minute break for this man to gather himself. it was obviously a traumatic experience for this man, and one which none of our class expected based upon the earlier part of the case. It went from uninteresting to chaotic. This just shows how interesting court cases can become.

Our second speaker was Ricardo Carvajal. Mr. Carvajal was previously served as Associate Chief Counsel in FDA's Office of Chief Counsel. He now provides FDA regulatory counseling to manufacturers and marketers of foods, drugs, devices, and cosmetics. This seminar was so interesting to our class because it was relevant to our everyday lives. It showed how federal regulations affect us, and how important this process is. Mr. Carvajal first talked to us about the differences between food, dietary supplements, and drugs. It would seem simple to define these, but as he noted these definitions can become quite complex. He showed us how simple juice labels, that advertise health benefits, can become very difficult to define, and therefore hard to determine which regulations the company must abide by. He also spoke to us about FDA’s involvement in regulating cigarettes. The FDA previously was not involved in this regulation until the mid-nineties. They won a court case based on the idea that cigarettes are a medical device used to delivering nicotine. Because of this definition, the FDA gained jurisdiction. But, interestingly they do not regulate cigars. Overall, I learned much about this complex regulatory agency and how their regulations are so important to our health and safety. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to expand my knowledge in this subject area.

An American Hero

(Congressman Lewis is the one wearing the white rain coat)

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I haven’t written on the blog yet this week. It has been very busy the past few days with seminar papers and my research project. However, I would like to fill you in on an influential person our class had the opportunity to meet. His name is John Robert Lewis. Mr. Lewis is now a Congressman from Georgia, but as a young man he was one of the big six members of the Civil Rights Movement. This man is an extraordinary person who has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls "The Beloved Community" in America. His dedication to the highest ethical standards and moral principles has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the United States Congress. He's truly an American hero.

As a young man he was inspired to join the Civil Rights Movement when he heard about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s radio speeches. Being moved by such activism he decided to join the cause. He organized many sit-ins and also participated in the Freedom Rides. Alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. Lewis also gave a speech at the March on Washington. Imagine having to follow after Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream speech!” Another one of his inspiring moments was when he led protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The march was supposed to march from Selma to Montgomery, but Alabama police officers brutally attacked them. This became known as “Bloody Sunday.” He told us how he was often brutally beaten for his actions, and how his jaw was broken. Mr. Lewis now has a speech impediment because of this.

When he was speaking to our class and telling us about his life accomplishments, I could not even imagine what he had gone through. The struggle he endured for African American equality has also continued to his job as Congressman. He still aims to represent those who are underrepresented in government. He believes all people should live equally, no matter who you are and what makes you different. Mr. Lewis is an inspiration to us all, and I believe more people should follow his example.

What a great seminar!

Andreanna

Natural History Museum

One of the Smithsonian Museums that I have been dying to go to is the Natural History Museum. I finally got the opportunity to go! This is an interesting one to visit because there are so many different exhibits to see. Just a few of the sections that they have are on the ocean, mammals, human evolution, butterflies and insects, dinosaurs and fossils, gemstones, and orchids. Because there is so much to look at we spent hours there.

In the ocean section, there were exhibits of preserved sharks, fish, and squid. I found this to be most interesting because we were able to see these animals in person, rather than solely in pictures. When you see them in person, you realize how large they can grow. The one I found most shocking was the giant squid. The sign stated that it was only about two to three years old but it had already grown to about twenty feet long, if not longer. I am horrified that the next time I swim in the ocean I might encounter one of these!

Another part of the museum that was very interesting was the butterfly observatory. It is a structure built specifically to let the butterflies fly freely. It has gardens of flowers growing that inhabit hundreds of butterflies. These flowers provide the nourishment that they need. I felt as though I was in a tropical jungle.

Lastly, my most favorite section was the one on gems and minerals. In this section they have exhibits of the most beautiful stones used to make jewelry. My favorite, of course, were the diamond displays. They had diamonds in many different colors and in many different jewelry settings. They even had jewelry owned by many different queens and famous people such as Marie Antoinette. Although these pieces were beautiful, nothing compared to the Hope Diamond necklace. Replaced with a temporary setting, this piece was breathtaking and every girl’s dream to own. This by far, for me personally, was the best part of the museum. The history behind it and its beauty make it so magnificent.

I posted pictures of this trip so everyone can enjoy how great it was!

-Andreanna

Subcommittee Hearing on Border Control

Part of the requirements for our Public Law class is to observe hearings then write observation papers on what we saw and heard. Our first hearing day was today, so I decided to attend the hearing called Securing our Borders-Operational Control and the Path Forward by the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security. When I walked into this committee room, it was interesting to watch the witnesses, Congressmen, and other important people converse with one another before the hearing began. They were getting their pictures taken by the press and finalizing their main points with one another. Just by the clothes that the witnesses wore, it was easy to identify where these people came from and which side of the issue they were likely to represent. There was a mayor from a town in Texas who wore a cowboy hat and there was also a border control officer who wore his uniform, which is what made themselves quite identifiable.

When the committee hearing began, the chairman conducted the meeting just as we did during our mock gun control hearing that I wrote about last month. The chairman, the ranking minority member, and the witnesses gave their testimonies to enlighten everyone of the issue at hand and their opinions on it. When they finished their testimonies, the floor opened up for questions from each member in the subcommittee.

I noticed that this was a hearing where all of the members, even though split by majority and minority, had a common goal in mind to secure our borders. They each stressed the importance of such a task and wanted to know exactly how to achieve it. Another topic which was brought up was the amount of resources needed by border control to successfully do their job. A specific number was unable to be given because their way of measuring the amount of illegal activity and flow across the border was unclear and needed a better system for measuring. Therefore, many of the members stressed the need to fix the measurement system to determine the exact levels of activity and ultimately to determine how to allocate resources.

Afterwards I even tried to meet with my Congressman because his office was on the same floor as this hearing room, but unfortunately he was not there. I’m hoping by the end of the semester I will get to meet him! Stay tuned!

-Andreanna

Research Project

Another dynamic aspect of the Washington Semester Program that I have not talked about is the Research Project component of the curriculum. Some schools require their students to do the research project over taking an elective, but my home school allowed us to choose. I chose to do the project to challenge myself, and to gain exposure on how to write such a long paper as this. The way my teacher instructs our class on how to write this paper is by meeting individually every other week at a set time. This is helpful because we get to ask questions and get advice that is specific to our projects.

The topic that I have chosen to write about is wrongful convictions based upon eyewitness misidentification. This subject area is of growing popularity within our society, and has become one that is need of research to improve our judicial system. The system needs to be assessed and fixed so that these innocent people are not incarcerated for the actions of another. Within the area of eyewitness identification I plan to investigate how these identifications are conducted and how this process effects the way people identify a criminal.

For the first part of this project, we had to write our research proposal. In this proposal we had to determine our thesis question, the research background, and what methods we would use to conduct the project. This part of the project was not too difficult, and the questions I did have, my professor was able to clearly answer them in our meeting together. Tonight and for the rest of this week, I will be gathering more information to write a working outline. This will be difficult because it is the framework of the entire research paper, including all the parts from the beginning to the end. Therefore, I need to start putting all my ideas and past research together in a logical and clear way. I’m nervous for this part of the project because I really need to write in depth about my research. The more in depth I go with this part of the project, the easier the following steps will be. I just hope I can get it all done by Monday!
Wish me luck!

-Andreanna
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day! <3