Washington Academic Internship Program: "How Firm Thy Friendship..."

The Washington Academic Internship Program provides students with an incredible opportunity to do things not possible in a traditional classroom setting. For example, I walk by both the Capitol and the Supreme Court every day to and from work, pay a visit to “Abe” (the Lincoln Memorial) on an almost daily basis, sang Carmen Ohio with the “Archie” (two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin) in front of a host of Ohio congressmen, met the Australian Ambassador to the United States, and met “John” (Speaker of the House John Boehner). Although each of the experiences listed above is tremendous, the most rewarding aspect of WAIP is the bonds the participants form with one another. Despite having been complete strangers just four weeks ago, four of us spent last Sunday—Easter Sunday—together. (The fifth understandably went home to share the holiday weekend with loved ones). For many of us, it was the first time we had spent Easter away from our families, so we decided to have our own dinner with our new “family”—our WAIP family (or team or wolf pack).

As pictured below, the four of us colored eggs together.

While waiting on the eggs to dry, a couple of us played an Easter memory matching game. As some can attest, this game further exemplified the time-tested truism that life is not always fair. Some people just happen to be better at certain things—things like Easter memory matching games.

After numerous failed attempts to at least win one game, one person suggested we move on to something more suitable to the group’s skill set: cooking. The four of us—yes, FOUR—made steaks, oven-roasted potatoes, green bean casserole, and brownies. Contrary to popular belief, we did not almost burn down the building in which we are living. The food turned out amazing. The best part about the dinner was not the tastiness of the food; rather, it was the cooking process itself. After studying the relatively new field of managerial science, we decided to put it to the test in our cooking operation. As the lead dog in our four-person wolf pack (again, we were down a person last weekend), I volunteered for the role of supervisor of Operation Easter Dinner. I find that I learn best by doing, so after studying management science last week, I thought it appropriate to attempt to apply Dr. Kolson’s teachings in a real world setting. With each young lady handling a different dish, it was important that I ensure high quality across the board. If just one dish failed to turn out correctly, the entire meal could have been compromised. I’m not usually one to take credit, but I was able to take three—how should I say this—“inexperienced” cooks and create an Easter dinner that would have made Spike Mendelsohn proud.

Unfortunately, the feel-good evening came to an abrupt end when it came time to settle on a movie for us to watch as the evening came to a close. I guess you could say there was a mutiny of sorts, as the three girls insisted that we watch a romantic comedy called Definitely, Maybe. Naturally, these were the first 25 movies on my list: http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2010/08/top_25_manliest_movies_of_all_time.php#the_terminator_1984

Living in “The District,” it is impossible not to be reminded on a daily basis of the democracy in which we live. There is strength in numbers, and in this case—much to James Madison’s chagrin—the three girl majority outnumbered my brave, lonely soul. Perhaps this suggests I’m not quite the leader I previously thought. Maybe that is why management science is such a difficult subject. In theory, it is rather straightforward and makes perfect sense. The trouble comes in its application. Theories are often constructed in a vacuum, and whenever humans are involved, “opinions, passions, and interests” can interfere with the decision-making process. The girls’ majority opinion outweighed my dissent, so I had to “muddle through” a chick-flick.