First Week Reflections

by Haleigh Cadd (’21)

I just finished FaceTiming my mom–who was hunkered in an unglamorous hall on Wake’s campus–and informed her that I just got off of a call with the ambassador to Lithuania, Robert Gilchrist. A few hours prior, I texted my family group chat a panoramic video of the apartments’ immaculate rooftop setup–which overlooks a skyline where I can see both the Capitol and the top of the Washington monument.

My brother, meanwhile, spends hours memorizing chemistry online in his apartment at another North Carolina university.

All of this is to say that coming to Wake Washington is probably the best decision I’ve ever made.

This is because–as I mentioned to my mom in our FaceTime call–I have probably learned more about the world of careers in four days than I have in any span of three months at Wake Forest. My horizons are being broadened–in specific regard to job hunting and life after Wake.

This seems to be the biggest difference between Wake Washington and any other abroad program. When I studied abroad in London, a different way of thinking was carved into my mind and I reaped the intellectual benefits of being immersed in another culture.

At Wake Washington, however, the knowledge available to me is more specific, rarely given out if it isn’t sought out, and invaluable. I appreciate this more since I am a senior and will need to submit job applications within the next few months.

This past week was the four other students and my first week in class. The week before, we went through orientation–where we had workshops on workplace communication, intern etiquette, and how to be a grateful mentee. We also went on a moonlight trolley tour of the monuments.

There was more fluorescent lighting than moonlight, but this was my first time at some of the monuments. For instance, I had never been to the MLK monument, which I learned was built in 2012. Considering the March on Washington’s 57th anniversary was the following Saturday, I felt like I was walking in the presence of the past.

While I love Winston-Salem, this is not something I could experience there or in my hometown.

This past week–the week after orientation–is when our classes started. My routine this week involved my getting up at 6:00AM to eat breakfast and prepare mentally for the day. On Mondays and Wednesdays I get to the Wake Washington center–located in Dupont Circle–before 9:00AM so that I can login into Slack and make sure my manager and coworkers on the marketing team at Signal Vine, Inc. know that I’m present. I work with them Monday-Thursdays and then have off on Fridays, when Ms. Richwine schedules speakers for us to talk to virtually.

This semester, I’m taking two classes–Journalism and the Election 2020 and Journalism in the Post-Truth Era–with Professor Phoebe Zerwick. I see her four days out of the week for these two classes, since she was originally supposed to be the resident professor for Wake Washington. While I have had my run-ins with Zoom, I cannot say that I enjoy these classes any less–especially since most of the current events we discuss are physically taking place only a few blocks from where I’m zooming into class at the Wake Washington center.

This is my second time being “abroad” and I’ve come to realize that when I–or any student–is transplanted in a new city and is told to be certain places at all hours of the day, my sole focus has to be getting to those places on time in the first week. Eating, sleeping, and resting is not a priority–and shouldn’t be when we have homework to do. So, my goals, for instance, are to finish my homework, be at places on time, and drink enough water. Only after the first two weeks will I hit my stride and adjust to the routine–for now, though, I am in fourth gear and will say ‘yes’ to everything until 5:00PM on Friday hits.

Such is the life of a student abroad.

I chose to come to Wake Washington because I fell in love with the city when I visited a friend the summer after my freshman year. At that point, I had no clear goal for where I wanted to be after college–but that specific weekend birthed my post-graduation goal.

The fall semester of my sophomore year was the first time that I had a conversation with Ms. Richwine–who gave me the first bits of eye-opening insight of how to internship hunt in D.C. Then, I discovered about a year later that a professor was going to Wake Washington through the journalism department–which was my minor. I applied for the program a few months later and Professor Zerwick accepted me into the program.

Then, COVID hit. While I have been working at Signal Vine, Inc. remotely through the summer–I still hadn’t gotten an internship for the fall when governors started shutting cities down. I didn’t even know if Wake Washington would go on in the fall. As a student, I almost always feel like my life is in the air–but just when the dust was settling over my senior year, COVID confused my post-graduation trajectory.

Despite all of the confusion, stressful nights, and frustration with the impact of COVID on this program–I’m in D.C., now, and I can admire the skyline of the capitol from my apartment rooftop. Who would have thought.

I might not have hit my stride, yet–but every day this program has proven to me that I’m in the right place at the right time.