Ok so it was the last day here at the WJMC and it was a BLAST!! I woke up, went to a group meeting and then heard two speakers. We traveled to Capitol Hill and had lunch, I had two congressional appointments. Then we had to take our picture in front of the Capitol, what else is a better way to end your stay in D.C…oh right a PARTY!!!!!

I made two Appointments for 1:30 and then for 2:30, so my group mate and I had to get lunch and run. Turns out it wasn’t that far so we had a half an hour before the appointment. The meeting went really well, he answered our questions and we talked he had to go because they were voting today for a bill or something, he didn’t really tell us. The second appointment was amazing we got to go into the Senators’ meeting room and then the chief of staff and then back to the office, it was amazing because we chatted it wasn’t boring it was interesting and entertaining I truly enjoyed having that experience. We stayed for about forty or so minutes, then walked two minutes back to the Capitol Building, we had a group photo taken and it was incredible.

Then we had an hour long drive back and we got ready for the gala. It was a huge party everyone danced and enjoyed themselves, it was a great way to let loose from all the tension of this week. The conference made a video of us doing what we did this past week. It was Amazing, it almost made me cry. At the end of the video I truly did not want to leave, I will miss D.C. and I only hope one day i’ll came back here.

It has been four long, and tiring days, however everyone is enjoying themselves including myself. We had a C-SPAN taping today along with a Q&A with Brian Lamb, and we had the pleasure to meet with the President’s Special assistant.

The taping of C-SPAN was Amazing, honestly that is the only word to describe it in my opinion. We got to ask questions hear about the issues and what their thoughts were, it was a very interesting learning experience for me, I loved hearing Steve Scully talking with everyone about the issues, mainly the country’s debt. I did not know until today how bad it really was.

Brian Lamb is so easy going, a very positive personality at least he was with us, and he asked us what we thought. Not many people especially adults ask us what we think, so to me that was amazing as well. I enjoyed meeting with Brian Lamb and having him ask us about the issues and what we thought, it was nothing i’ve ever seen before, especially including teenagers.

We had the pleasure  to meet with Josh Earnest, a man who works for the head of the United States. We talked politics with him and asked about the upcoming Presidential elections, I personally did not know President Obama has done as much as he has in the past three years, living up to his promises, except his idea’s that Congress did turn down (only some). Earnest was very open to us about his job and working for the President. What is so amazing about Earnest is that he is young, younger than most in this job, which is very hard to earn.

After dinner we got to learn about the Chandra Levee case and what is was like to have a case go on for over 6 years, working on a story for 6 years. They never gave up and finally got the full story, it was so amazing to learn about that case because i’ve hardly heard of Chandra Levee.

The Dean of Admissions, Dean Flagel, talked to us about College, but in the most interesting way, he made it more of a joke which I think he did because it helps us remember how important what he told us was. He talked to us about what to do to get into College, how to choose a College, and how money is very important to talk to your parents about.

All in all it has been a fun forth day here at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference.

I was very interested in the public relations panel. It was fascinating, I loved every minute of it. Public relations is all about telling a story, targeting your audience, using social media. Trying to make the story compelling and interesting, empactful, something to make them walk away saying “Wow”. To me that was a very interesting panel and I recommend listening or learning about public relations.

The group and I were able to have another panel at the National Press Club, we met Chuck Todd, Jonathan Martin, and Jessica Yellin. These three had so much to say it was hard  not to listen. I especially enjoyed listening to Jessica Yellin and Jonathan Martin, both very interesting people, and very accomplished as well.

We were also able to meet Hoda Kotb. From the moment she walked in the room she was smiling, she is a very happy and out going person. Very funny and down to earth. She didn’t bore us with a story, instead she made it fun to listen to, everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. I didn’t know much about Hoda when I came here, now I know what she’s all about, she served breast cancer and a divorce at the same time…Who could do that? That takes a strong women in my opinion. Now I will be reading Hoda’s book, and watching her on the forth hour on NBC’s “Today”.

After we ate dinner, we were able to hear some alumni speak and that was interesting because their not that much older then I am. These four are in all types of media and publications. One is a writer and producer, another is a Radio broadcaster that does his own movie show, another is a managing editor, and the last one is a entertainment reporter…All of these alumni are only 10 or so years older, that is pretty impressive.

The first two days at this Conference were a lot of fun. Meeting new people, seeing new places (for some), and hearing the Amazing speakers the Conference has lined up for us Students to see, hear and ask question’s.

The first day was an easy day, we checked in, got our room’s, went to a group meeting, and just got to know one another, I met a lot of really nice people form all over the country and in Guam too. When it was time to sleep I think everyone wanted that, from the long flights and just from the change in weather. I was so tired from waking up at 3 am and getting settled so I fell asleep early.

The second day (today) was a ton of fun. We all traveled to the Newseum and had plenty of time to see everything. To me the most powerful exhibit was the 9/11 exhibit, it was full of news papers and a signal tower from the North Tower. The Newseum is very virtual and interactive. When we came back from the Newseum the groups had a simulation activity, which really didn’t seem like a simulation activity, to was too much fun to be called a simulation. After dinner we all had different speakers to see. I was in the Panic Journalism group first, which was fun, I learned a lot about the D.C. Sniper, which I had only heard stories about before. My second group was Sports Journalism, also a lot of fun, she told us what is was like to interview Athletes and had us ask questions so she knew what we wanted to know.

These past two days have been a unique and fun learning experience.

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