2007 College Leaders Program: Day 3

College Leaders Program Class of 2007
Blog Update: Day 3 - Monday June 4
Reported by: Allison Andresen of the University of Virginia

    Today, the first day of classes, was marked with suspense, excitement, uncertainty and celebration, Happy Birthday Shonda!! 
    I felt like I was starting elementary school all over again (in a good way). I was eager to learn what “Virginia Politics Boot Camp” was all about. While my classmates and I were waiting to walk over to our classroom, we were confronted by a familiar occurrence…mama Shonda with a big, black digital camera.
    Soon after arriving to the classroom, Marc Johnson assigned us our challenge for the next month, the Culminating Project. We are required to create a public policy proposal that will address a major issue within Virginia. As a class, we discussed the major issues that we were aware of in the different regions across the Commonwealth. We voted and decided on five issue categories for our groups to focus: education, healthcare, government reform, public safety and social issues.
    In preparation for our series of speakers over the next month, we learned and practiced how to properly introduce honored guests. Regis was confident enough in his public speaking skills to introduce our first speaker, Executive Director of the Sorensen Institute, Sean O’Brien. Regis gave a really good introduction.
    Dr. O’Brien gave an interactive lesson on Ethics and Politics. He began by asking the class a simple question, “What is the public’s perception of political leaders?” After discussing and coming to a consensus on the importance of ethics in politics, the class split into groups and discussed different ethical situations and how we thought they should be handled.
    After a nice long lunch break, we were back to work. Dr. Quentin Kidd gave an extensive presentation on the great state of Virginia. His PowerPoint was full of statistics and characteristics specific to Virginia. As a native of NoVa, I was surprised by some of the issues he discussed. For example, he pointed out the unsuspected gang problem in the valley. We discussed effects of uneven population growth, immigration effects, the different economic regions of Virginia, and civic/ political engagement.


-Allison Andresen, University of Virginia