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Leadership in Action: Lessons from A TFAS Summer in Washington · Liberty + Leadership

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today you're listening to a special episode of the Liberty and Leadership podcast, recorded live at our TFAS annual conference in Naples, florida.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: In this conversation, I had the pleasure of speaking with two impressive young TFAS alumni who are on a path to becoming future leaders with plans to attend law school and embark on exciting careers.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned for more episodes featuring insightful conversations with the incredible speakers who led sessions at this year's conference.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Liberty and Leadership Podcast a conversation with TFAS alumni, faculty and friends who are making an impact.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Today I'm your host, roger Ream.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: We decided to let you hear from two students who are active on their campuses in different ways and attended our programs last summer.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Catherine Shea is at the University of Pittsburgh.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: She's from Ocean City, maryland.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Interned last summer at an office in the Department of Agriculture that hosts our interns and gives them a great experience during the summer.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: She attended our public policy and economics track last summer and she's very interested in the law and criminal justice.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons she went to the University of Pittsburgh, because they have a great program in that area.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: She's been a legal intern at the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, hopes to go to law school and we'll hear more from her in just a minute.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: And then next to Catherine is Caleb Davis.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Caleb is from Mississippi, but he attends Wheaton College in Illinois.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: At Wheaton he is a senior he'll be graduating in December and he plays soccer.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: He was a Teague scholar.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Last summer came with the benefit of a scholarship from the Randall Teague Scholarship Fund that we have at TFAS.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: So thank you, randy.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Last summer, while attending our business and government affairs program, he interned at a firm called Lobbyit where he was able to attend congressional hearings, do legislative research and work on business development projects.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: He is going to law school after he graduates.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: In fact he's going to be doing some travel in Europe this summer and then taking the LSAT and then make his law school plans after that.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So it'll be quite a thrill to have a conversation now with Caleb and Catherine.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Well, did I miss anything in introducing you, catherine?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Tell me a little more, maybe, about your plans post-University of Pittsburgh.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: So, after I am graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, I do want to jump straight into law school.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: My intention is to work a little bit in prosecution, so criminal justice, and then, moving on to the policy side, once I'm able to identify some of the major issues that we're dealing with.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Obviously, every system that we're working with in government has its flaws and its issues, and I want to help make that change.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: What are you going to be doing this summer?
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So this summer I'm going to be doing a fellowship in Rome while also taking the LSAT, so a little bit busy.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: But I'm really excited to learn a little bit more about a criminal justice system outside of the US because I do believe it will make you more analytical of our system, and it's an issue with norms.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: We tend to look at our own systems and think that that's what's expected and what has to be, so I hope that looking at the Italian criminal justice system will allow me to be more critical of how we've developed our system.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Now, Caleb, you are playing soccer at Wheaton and active on campus.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: You've got plans kind of laid out, but talk a little bit about that.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, like you mentioned, I plan on enrolling in law school in the fall of 2026.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: I'm ideally looking to do a dual JD and master's in public policy program.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I hope to end up on the East Coast somewhere in the DC area.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: It's kind of the goal as far as law school goes, and then we'll see where my career takes me after that.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: I think last summer I really realized with TFAS I love our government, I love our country and I want to be in DC absolutely.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: But I realized my true passion.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Yes, policy is great, politics is great, but my true passion is for people and so I can definitely see myself in public service at some point in my career long-term down the road.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: And this summer you have an internship in Washington, right?
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Yes, I'll be interning for Congressman Michael Guest this summer.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: So I'm very appreciative to the Congressman, his family and his staff for giving me that opportunity.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: So I'll be in DC for a little bit this summer.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Before we talk a little more about the campus climate and some of those issues, what's one highlight from last summer that kind of sticks out?
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, as I think most people here know, you took some courses.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: You took a course in economics, I think both of you.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You had a lot of different lectures and career events to attend.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: You had an amazing experience at the Department of Agriculture.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I worked primarily on high priority policy issues.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: It was a nice period of change to be joining the department and I also worked on geospatial data analytics, Working under Ingrid Ripley, who is the executive director of the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: She is so active with TFAS and really encouraged us to dive straight in to working hands-on with the policy that is going on in the department.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: But my highlight had to have been meeting Secretary Vilsack at the end of my internship.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: He's so passionate about the individual family farmers and the issues that they face, and hearing someone in such a high position in government who is connecting with the issues of individual farmers it was really wonderful to hear.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: That was the reason why I was so interested in the Department of Agriculture.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Coming from a family where many people are small family farmers, I have an appreciation for the struggles that are very apparent every day in family farming and seeing the government being able to support those issues.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Even if they haven't had that personal experience.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: It was really wonderful to see.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: I think the highlight of my internship at least was that it was a bit of a smaller firm.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: So interns, if they wanted to do a lot more work, they could.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: The workload kind of depended on how much you wanted to do.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: But I was able to go to meetings with our lobbyists and our clients as well as like congressional staffs on the Hill.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: So that was really cool to just see the interaction between the private sector and the public sector and see it hands on, like these conversations about certain policy issues happening right in front of me.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: So that was like probably the highlight in terms of my internship.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: I think just the overarching highlight of the summer and something that I've just really appreciated about TFAS is that every single day I was learning something new, like it was just a consistent summer of learning.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Learning something new, like it was just a consistent summer of learning.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: And whether it was with guest lectures or my classes, internships, you know people I'd meet in DC.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: I truly accredit that to TFAS and the opportunity that you know TFAS provided to continually learn throughout the summer and I didn't get a lot of sleep because there were so many opportunities through TFAS to learn and grow and network.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: But I'm very appreciative for it.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Now you both took economics.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Had you had it before at school?
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I had taken one course in macroeconomics, so clearly not the strongest basis, but taking Dr Bradley's economics course, I learned so much about the practical application of economics and, with the economic way of thinking that was covered earlier in this conference, we really dove right in to applying the principles of economics into the way that you understand politics, but also your daily life.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: It was invaluable and I find myself referencing the lessons I learned at TFAS every single day on my home campus and I do think that, consistently discussing the principles that we learned in lecture with the incredible students at TFAS, I was able to learn so much more outside of the classroom, because everyone is just incredibly passionate about building our country into an incredible place.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: I would echo that as well.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: I had Dr Coyne and his class was great, but I would say I'm a business economics major, so I'd previously taken economics classes prior to TFAS and took some this fall.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: I'm minoring in political science, so a lot of my classes cover areas that we talked about in my classes in DC and I would say without a doubt that TFAS and developing an economic way of thinking the principles that we were taught in TFAS they definitely changed the framework in which I go about evaluating things in my current classes at Wheaton.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: I'm in a political ethics class right now and I can see that economic way of thinking really taking place, at least in my thought process throughout the course of this past semester.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Now you both you come from University of Pittsburgh and Caleb from Wheaton College.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Let me start with you, caleb.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: There's been some controversy at Wheaton lately, since President Trump was elected.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Can you talk about that?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: So?
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: one of our former alumni, Russ Vogt.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: He was appointed as the director of the OMB for the Trump administration.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Our school posted congratulating him and saying we were praying for him, and it received a lot of backlash on the internet from the left, thousands of comments bashing Wheaton for supporting him, saying they were endorsing him.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: The next day Wheaton took the post down and issued an apology for congratulating him and saying they were praying for him.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: That was kind of the final straw.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Wheaton has been going left of center for probably the last 10 to 15 years and I think people have kind of had enough with what's going on.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: And there's now a movement called the For Wheaton Movement with a bunch of conservative alumni and donors who are just unhappy with the state of the school, the administration, the board of trustees and really what's at the core of this problem is that Wheaton has been teaching things and implementing things like CRT and DEI that many donors believe contradicts our statement of faith.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: So they're saying, hey, if you will reword your statement of faith and take down the current one, you have reword one that more closely aligns with what you're actually implementing and teaching at your institution, we're not going to give you money for it anymore because we don't support CRT and DEI, but the market will decide what happens to Wheaton.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: So that's a little bit of what's going on right now.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: As far as CRT and DEI, it seems like we have turned away from our mission of pursuing academic excellence, rather ingraining these ideologies into the minds of students, and it's quite unfortunate.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: I do believe in a community that fosters lots of discourse and people from both sides of the aisle should be able to express their beliefs, and I think it is important to learn what CRT is, learn about CRT, but when it is institutionalized it seems a bit much for me, crt is critical race theory and DEI is diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: For those who aren't familiar with it and maybe most of you are, I know at University of Pittsburgh you've had some issues related to the events that took place post-October 7th of 2003 in Israel with the terrorist attacks there.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: You're involved in an interesting project through Free the Facts.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about what life is like on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the University of Pittsburgh.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: We are located in the center of a city which plays a massive role in how our political climate is sort of engaging.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: We have a very active campus of students who are very passionate about politics, and so we've experienced a lot of demonstrations that have not necessarily ended in the way that people were expecting, and FIRE, which is an organization that collects data on individual students' opinions on free speech on their campus, has shown that students at the University of Pittsburgh feel that there is a low level of freedom of speech being allowed on campus, which is a massive issue.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: A lot of students have expressed concerns that they're not able to share their political opinions and protest policies that they don't necessarily agree with at the university or within the city.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I have so much love for the University of Pittsburgh and I see this as a really wonderful opportunity to foster open conversations and open debate with students.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: In fact, my work with Through the Facts, I've been able to learn a lot about having nonpartisan debates where we openly discuss our opinions on political issues through factual analysis and, rather than attacking the points of the opposing party, we attempt to understand where their logic stemming from and come to resolutions based on our agreements rather than focusing on what we disagree with.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: So at the university, I focused a lot on individual policy issues.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: For example, I work with an organization that focuses on individual renter's rights, and so we've been focusing on those sorts of issues that are of major concern to students, while making sure that we are following the university policies but continuing to push for freedom of speech for all students.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: You're an ambassador for this organization.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Free the Facts.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: I am.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: We have the privilege of hosting campus events and being able to bring conversations focused on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending onto campus, and that's a really wonderful opportunity for students who haven't been exposed to those ideas, whether at university or outside, to have a better understanding of how congressional spending sort of operates, and it does build more political awareness in our community.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Do you guys think Social Security will be around for you when you retire?
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: There's definitely a lot of conversations regarding how we are going to be able to maintain these elections, and especially when it comes to wanting to have representatives that are focused on making a change, that we can have social security benefits when we hit retiring age.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: That needs to be a main focus for our political decisions.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Last summer at TFAS?
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Did you find an atmosphere there that which we try to promote of willingness to listen to differing viewpoints of civility when it came to talking about issues?
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Caleb, yeah, absolutely.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: And I think last summer was a really cool summer to be a part of TFAS, with everything going on in our country last summer, and I would say that culture that you guys have tried to foster is absolutely evident.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: You know just conversations with fellow students in our dorms just talking about you know what was going on in the country at that point in time.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Everyone's very respectful of each other and appreciated different viewpoints and some people's opinions on certain topics definitely changed throughout the summer when they were presented with facts rather than what we've seen a lot of you know mainstream media promote.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: But also like with the Braver Angels debate, I think that was like another really good example.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I want to explain the Braver Angels debates that we do in the summer.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: The Braver Angels debate.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: I would say it's towards the end of the summer and our topic this past year was around.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: I want to say it was AI's implementation in the military.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: That was kind of the general idea of it.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: So the students who wanted to do it there were two sides and they met up throughout the summer to discuss what arguments they were going to present and it really the respect for each side that was fostered in the way in which the Braver Angels debate was carried out just really did foster this environment of, like I said, respect.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I can't hammer that home enough.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Did you participate in that or attend that?
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I was able to attend that debate and the thoughtful analysis from each student who came to the debate prepared to talk about the issues and not fight about the issues.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: It was really inspiring to see.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, throughout the entire summer I was able to become close friends with my colleagues that have incredibly different opinions from my own, and those daily debates where we were fighting for our opinions but also attempting to understand the other side.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: It was a really impactful way to not only learn about other people's opinions but challenge my own, because, as a young academic, it's very important to be open to the idea of other perspectives and changing your mind.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: One question I had that a little bit relates to the brief mention of Social Security.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Do you find that among your classmates there's a sense of optimism about the future, that the American dream is still alive, or do they tend to be pessimistic because we get so much negative news all the time?
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: You know both parties are always harping at how everything's going to hell.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: And what do you find, caleb?
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: You know, I was having this conversation with my roommate last night and I think for those of us who are involved in the political system, the DC world, you know, those of us students who want to get there eventually and care about making a change, I would say we are optimistic because I think we truly do want to see change in our country and we want to be at the forefront of that.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: So I would say we're optimistic.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: But I would say, people who aren't as educated on the political state of our country today I don't really know if they're pessimistic about it.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like they're indifferent, almost.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: But I would say for myself, I'm excited for the future of the country.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: I think for all the donors here today, I can't thank you guys enough for all that you have done for TFAS pouring into the next generation, because you truly are investing in the future of our country.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: You know TFAS is raising up great leaders and you should take confidence in the fact that great leaders will continue to lead in our nation because of TFAS today.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I've found in my university, there certainly is a little apprehension about the American dream.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: There is a fear that that may not be a possibility, but that doesn't change the fact that there's hope that it may be.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I think that my experience with TFAS allowed me to engage with many students who are so powerfully ambitious and ready for the future and the work that is done throughout the program on focusing on career development and also allowing us to open our minds to the American government and all the different parts of our government system.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: It really allows us to create a more detailed picture of what our personal future might look like and what the future of our country might look like.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: So I think that the opportunity to be a part of a program like the Fund for American Studies and all of the work that you all do to allow that opportunity it really does make an impact on all do to allow that opportunity.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: It really does make an impact on our ability to become strong leaders.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I've noticed slightly over the past you know decade, I'll say, maybe not even that long that the students coming to our program are very serious, they're career-focused.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: They're coming to kind of sample different possible career paths they might take and so we offer them a lot of opportunities to go of sample different possible career paths they might take and so we offer them a lot of opportunities to go to what we call career-focused activities, to have a lunch with Chris Allman, for instance, for those interested in communication, or Kevin Seifert if they're interested in politics and policy, and different people in different professions, people from embassies, international organizations.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: And the students are really interested in learning what's this career path like and what's that one like?
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: You guys came already kind of determined.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: But do you sense that the students, the classmates you had, are all kind of they are ready to go out and change the world, looking at how can I best make a difference, how can I make a career for myself in a particular field?
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: I think so for sure.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, I keep in touch with a lot of my friends from TFAS last summer and I think the thing everyone is trying to figure out is how do I get back to DC as soon as possible?
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: And right now a lot of people are in the waiting process of internship applications, and so I found everyone who was taking part in TFAS to be very serious, very focused on their career and ready to make an impact.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: I think a common statement that I heard from students who were in TFAS this last summer is that when they came back to their home campus, they hit the ground running.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: They became more involved on campus.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: They were able to join organizations focused on policy and able to really advocate for their beliefs.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I know that personally.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: One of our meetings at the Association for Prosecuting Attorneys, where I was able to meet with Sasha Betty, really encouraged me to work at my local district attorney's office.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: It's an opportunity I would have been apprehensive to join.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: It's a very serious workplace and I was nervous to apply for such an incredible position, but the encouragement from someone in TFAS really pushed me to explore options and understand that our horizons are very open as young professionals and you just have to take that leap.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: All of you attended an all-institute lecture by Mitch Daniels and I don't know if you'll remember the details of his talk, but it was pretty sobering.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Mitch Daniels used to be on our board of trustees.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: He's now a trustee emeritus and he came out and he gave a very sobering talk about the buildup of debt and the deficits and what he sensed was a coming financial crisis because of the failure of our leadership in Washington to deal with the deficit spending.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And it was kind of a warning to your generation that you're going to have to solve this problem, that we're leaving you.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: We've failed, our generation has failed.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: It's going to be left to the rising generation to deal with the problem of financial collapse in Washington, with government and interest on the debt is exceeding defense spending and entitlements.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants to touch the entitlements.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Is that something that you know students are aware of?
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: You think Maybe through the things you're doing at Pitt, you know you're talking about it, but in general, are students more, say, apathetic, like you mentioned, and just going through without any thought to these big problems overhanging our country?
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: I would say in our poli-sci department we're very aware of it because it comes up in a lot of our discussions throughout class and I'd say you know students who are not focused on poli-sci or international relations.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: They're aware of it.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: I don't know how much it actually impacts their day-to-day but I would say for those of us in the poli-sci department, we absolutely are very aware of it and care deeply about it.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: I think that in my experience with students, I find that people that have the knowledge, like we were shared, from Mitch Daniels are excited to change the course of our spending issues.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Obviously, it's a very difficult issue and it's not going to be a simple problem to solve, but that's part of why we all are interested in government and political science.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: It's because it's difficult, it's because we don't exactly know what we're jumping into, and it's going to be a challenge, and I do think that TFAS really pushes us to be ready for those challenges and to build those skills.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: So all the students coming out of the Fund for American Studies are really ready for facing those challenges.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Well, great, it's good to have students with us and I'm glad we had a chance to have a conversation with two of you.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I do want to open it up to questions from our audience here in Naples at our donor conference.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: So I see microphones in the back of the room.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: There's Joe Stars and Jane Mazzella, so raise your hand if you'd like to ask two of these bright young people, who are going to be leaders in the future, some questions.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I see one over there.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: My name's Thomas.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I did the summer program this summer as well with y'all.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I would love to hear about your favorite day from the summer just like a 24-hour period.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: that you won't forget.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: I think that one of the most interesting days I had with CFAS was when we went down to the house floor and were briefed by two members of the house.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: That was one of the most incredible experiences.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: But I was able to start my day with a conference at my work and I was able to hear from a lot of the executive directors and the people really involved in the USDA that are working on some of the major policy issues.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: So I was able to engage in some of those conversations and learn a lot more about sort of how the department is run, because it's a massive department, there's a lot of moving parts and it is always interesting to sort of dive deeper into understanding what's going on and then following that up with being on the House floor.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: It's a pretty incredible experience and something I will honestly never forget.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: For myself, it was definitely the day of the congressional baseball game.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: That morning I was able to meet one of my senators from Mississippi, and then that afternoon we went to my firm.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: We went to the Capitol Hill Club for a pregame reception and was able to talk to Steve Garvey, who was running for Senate out there in California.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: But also the same day was the Vivek Ramaswamy lecture, and I guess I tell this story to say I was able to talk to Mr Ramaswamy after about AI and the future of AI in our country and the ethical impacts of AI.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: But then that night at the congressional game I met Speaker Mike Johnson.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: And so in that day I met some very powerful people in Washington, very influential people who I have a lot of respect for, and at the end of the day I was just like I'm 19 years old and just talked to four amazing people.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: I don't really know how this happened, but it was that.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: I will never forget that day, that's for sure.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Did you go to most of those Capitol Hill lectures or?
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: I did.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I really enjoyed them.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: They were very insightful.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: The COVID-19 ones were very interesting and thought provoking, to say the least.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: I really enjoyed it, and even with Vivek Ramaswamy, I thought he gave a very great speech that seemed to be pretty bipartisan, and something I really appreciated was that he called out flaws in both the Republican and Democratic Party, because you know, I think there are on Capitol Hill Senator Rand Paul's office usually can reserve a large room, a Senate hearing room on the Hill, and we send an invitation to every congressional office on Capitol Hill, all 435 House offices, all 100 Senate offices, plus to all our students.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: And we'll get two, three, sometimes up to 400 interns in Washington to come to these lectures.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: And Vivek Ramaswamy did one Last summer.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: It was packed, it was standing room only.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: We had people in the hall watching it on monitors.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: But we also had Rand Paul gave one of the lectures and Jay Bhattacharya gave a lecture and talked about how he was treated at Stanford when he raised questions, scientific questions, about how we were responding to COVID.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: We've had Marty Makary a lot of very interesting lectures in that series that you're referencing, Caleb.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Are there other questions?
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I see one in the middle here.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: My name is Natalia Miguel.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: I go to Florida International University and I graduated alongside y'all this summer within TFAS.
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: You mentioned that after completing TFAS, students hit the ground running on their home campuses, which I completely agree with.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Can you share some of the initiatives and projects or leadership roles you've taken on since your summer with TFAS?
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: So I joined Free the Facts as an ambassador right after leaving TFAS.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I was able to obviously work on a lot of events with them and get more involved in bipartisan debate.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: I also joined the OCC Honor Society and became an ambassador for them, which encourages students to work on career development outside of the classroom.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: It's definitely an emphasis on building up leadership qualities in younger students.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: It's definitely an emphasis on building up leadership qualities in younger students.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: So I was working on encouraging freshmen and sophomore students to sort of jump to college and enjoy all of the opportunities that we have on our campus.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: And then I also started my internship at the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office right when I joined in.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: Being a student athlete it takes up most of my time, but when I got back to school, we recently just launched a pre-law society, so I just got involved with that and I'm really looking forward to being involved with it.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: Throughout my last nine months at Wheaton but I would definitely say recently, with the controversy on campus that's where I've probably had the biggest involvement and most influence amongst my peers, just cultivating positive conversations about what's going on on campus right now and trying to educate people on factually what is actually happening.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I think we have time for one more question, if there is another question.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: What can people of the older generation do who are too old to come to TFAS?
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: What can we do other than?
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: doubling our contributions to TFAS.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Drip all that.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: I was obviously a Teague scholar last summer and I'm so appreciative of Chairman Teague and the investment he made in me financially.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: But I just want to take a second to honor Chairman Teague for the impact that he's made on my life, just in terms of the wisdom and the advice that he has just poured into me and his kindness and generosity throughout our conversations since last summer have truly marked my life so seriously.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: You know, I was reading actually in Romans last night and it talks about, you know, outdoing one another and showing honor.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: And I just wanted to honor Chairman Teague today and I think the impact that he made in my life in terms of what he invested in me from a faith standpoint, things that he learned throughout his career in DC, giving me advice on my future, I think that's made the biggest impact on me personally and I think, for the older generation, as you said, I think that is really important because you guys do have a lot of wisdom and I think it's safe to say that our generation wants to seek out that wisdom.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: Sorry for all the biblical references, but in Proverbs, you know, wisdom is heavily emphasized.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: If you look at King Solomon and what happened to his life.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: When he asked God for wisdom, god said you know, I'll give you whatever you want, and he chose wisdom, and because of that God blessed him tenfold.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: And so, for me, I personally pray for wisdom all the time, but I've noticed that God has definitely put people in my life, oftentimes older than me, with tons of wisdom to invest in me, and I am so appreciative of that.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: So just invest your wisdom into the next generation, for sure.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: T-Fast does have a mentorship program that I was involved in this last summer, and it is really incredible to hear directly from your experience even the parts of your experience that you don't think students want to hear about.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: We do, we really, really do.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: We want to learn about all of your struggles, all of your triumphs, and even if your experience is not directly connected to where we're going in our career, there's so much value that we can learn from each and every person.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: I know that every alumni that I interacted with at the Fund for American Studies has taught me something incredibly valuable and tangible.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: So just keep telling people about your experience and showing up.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: We are so grateful to have you here.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: We may have the seed here of a new program of tying students, connecting students with donors.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Nowadays that's much easier, of course, with the technology we have around, because now our students are assigned to mentors who are in careers in Washington DC where they can meet for coffee during the summer.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: But there are ways to do that in other ways as well.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: So that's a great question.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you for asking that.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Catherine mentioned the experience of going onto the House floor and I don't know if it was mentioned yesterday, but Congressman David Kustoff, who was with us, and Congressman David Rauser from North Carolina, both alums of our program who are serving in Congress, host us, host the students on the floor of the House of Representatives.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: We go early in the morning because we have to get there before the House goes into session.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: We can't accommodate all the students because the security process to go to the floor is a long one and it's a long line.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: They go through to get screened, but they get to sit on the floor of the House where Congresswoman will be sitting in a few hours, where world leaders like Winston Churchill and American presidents and Václav Havel and others have spoken to Congress and to the American people, and get briefed by members of Congress.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: It really is a thrill.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I try to go as often as I can with the students and you can't get enough of that opportunity to be on the floor of the House.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up, catherine.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: That is a special opportunity.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: They also go, of course, to briefings at other important government agencies and think tanks and places around town.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: During the course of the summer we offer a monument tour one evening where they go to the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and other sites, and occasionally they have a few moments free to go to museums like the Smithsonian and others.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: But we do keep them pretty busy.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, caleb and Catherine Appreciate you being with us for this, thank you.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Liberty and Leadership podcast.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: If you have a comment or question, please drop us an email at podcast at tfasorg and be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app and leave a five-star review.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Liberty and Leadership is produced at Podville Media.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, roger Ream, and until next time, show courage in things, large and small.