CONWAY, Ark. (September 21, 2015) – Five Hendrix College students are studying in the nation’s capital this fall semester through the new Hendrix-in-Washington program.
The students include:
- Barrett Goodwin ’16, politics major and history minor
- Sarah Moore ’16, psychology major and politics minor
- Guneev Sharma ’16, politics major and economics and business minor
- Hamza Syed ’16, politics major
- Kay Beth Tyson ’16, international relations major and Spanish minor
The program is a partnership between Hendrix and the nonprofit Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. Students in the program live and take classes in the Washington Center’s residential and learning complex in the NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) district.
Students earn three academic credits for completing a 32 hour a week internship, a three hour a week evening course organized by the Washington Center, and a leadership seminar that meets on Fridays.
The seminar, titled “A Capital Odyssey: Living and Learning in the Nation’s Capital,” is led by Hendrix politics professor Dr. Peter Gess, Director of the Odyssey and International Programs.
Dr. Gess is leading the seminar remotely but will be on site twice to teach in person, check on the students and engage with the program’s activities.
Students receive Odyssey credit for “special projects” for the seminar and will go through the framework of other Odyssey categories to complete activities throughout the semester. For example, for the Global Awareness Odyssey category, students reflect on D.C.’s cultural environment through various activities, including attending a U.S. State Department briefing and attending and writing about a global event in or around D.C. (e.g. a foreign relations committee hearing). At the end of the semester, students submit a portfolio demonstrating how they met the requirements.
“Using this place-based approach allows students to think about and deeply engage Washington D.C. and learn from being in our nation’s capital,” Gess said.
Students have access to the Washington Center’s distinguished speaker series, group discussions, and service learning projects, as well as the Hendrix alumni network in Washington, D.C. Gess said Hendrix-in-Washington students had the opportunity to meet Hendrix alumni in D.C. socially this semester.
The program is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors from all disciplines, Gess said.
Because the program’s costs are fixed, it is scalable to any size, and Gess hopes it will continue to grow and involve other faculty. A summer version of the program is a possibility, offering two academic credits through the internship and Washington Center course, Gess said.
In addition to the Hendrix-in-Washington semester program, Hendrix students may continue to take part in the Washington Semester Program through American University, he added.
About Hendrix College
Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1876 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884, Hendrix is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges and is nationally recognized in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings for academic quality, community, innovation, and value. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.