YouthWorks at Johns Hopkins University

With only two days left on my summer job, I can say that this was the best summer job I’ve ever had.  (To be fair, I’ve only had two summer jobs).  When we first started at GCPA, I had no idea what to expect.  Before I started here, I had never blogged a day in my life. But it turned out to be a wonderful experience. Another highlight of my job was that I got to see firsthand what what goes into preparing to testify before a legislative body.  I enjoyed my time at GCPA and I wish it could go on longer.  I thank everyone in the office because they all were nice and helpful whenever we needed anything.

As we embarked on another field trip, this one to City Hall, my fellow co-workers and I, had no clue what to expect. As we entered City Hall, we showed the guard our identification and stepped through the metal detectors.  Ms. Jeanne Davis, our tour guide, was there waiting for us.  We learned that City Hall’s corner stone was laid just a couple of years after the Civil War and the building was finished eight years later. We also learned that a young architect named George Frederick was just in his early twenties when he designed the building after submitting the winning design for a competition he saw advertised in the newspaper. 

Delora Sanchez, assistant director of state affairs, and one of our mentors.

I’ve made it through the first weeks of my summer job. Overall, it’s been fun.  One of the highlights of being at GCPA is the time we get to spend with Delora Sanchez, an attorney and assistant director of state affairs at GCPA.  She’s been talking to us about college and preparing ourselves to be able to defend our opinions.  She told us that law school “was no joke,” and that the bar exam was hard and time consuming – three days. As I listened to her, I imagined myself  attending college and law school and then studying for the bar.

Our visit to Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab was like gaining clearance to enter a top secret army base. In a very short amount of time, we learned about the Messenger and New Horizons space missions. Messenger is a mission to Mercury with an unmanned space shuttle built at APL. Messenger was launched in 2004 and will insert itself into Mercury’s orbit in March, 2011. New Horizons is a mission to Pluto with an unmanned space shuttle that also built at APL. New Horizons was launched in 2004, and from what I learned, it will take at least nine years to reach Pluto traveling at the speed of light!

I don’t know about my fellow GCPA YouthWorks interns, but I’ve never been to a press conference before. Our supervisor, Tracey Reeves, invited us to the event so we could see what goes into the making of a news conference. This one was held to announce a new federal loan forgiveness and repayment program that U.S. Rep John Sarbanes helped pass in Congress. The event was held in the School of Education Building just down the street from the Homewood campus, and included some important people such as John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management who was appointed by President Barack Obama, and of course, JHU President Ron Daniels. It was an exciting morning. As Alex, Samone, Chanel, Kenterra and I sat in the back of the stained-glass windowed room, we saw it quickly fill with people. A cameraman from WBAL, channel 11, and there were reporters from the Washington Post and a government magazine. All of the speakers were very good. As I sat there, I imagined myself giving a big speech 10 years from now.