Title: My Experience With GU Politics: Conversations and Community

Justin Higgins (C’28), originally from Albany, New York, is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and a Georgetown Storyteller. He plans to study government with a minor in journalism.

Let’s face it, almost all Georgetown students have at least some interest in politics. So naturally, as a first-year student, my eyes automatically lit up when I discovered the opportunities housed in the basement of Healy Hall — home to the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics) Living Room.

The Living room – appropriately named considering its comfortable seating and an inviting atmosphere and staff – is the community hub where many GU Politics’ events, discussion groups and affiliated clubs meet throughout the school year. 

GU Politics has been a major part of my Georgetown experience over the past year. As a first-year student, I wrote a couple articles for On the Record, their student-run politics and current affairs newspaper. A cool experience fell in my lap in October, when I was granted a press pass and covered John Legend’s conversation in Gaston Hall with GU Politics Executive Director Mo Elleithee. But perhaps my most significant experience has been working closely with a national politics reporter as she led campus discussion groups about the media throughout the semester. 

My Introduction to the GU Politics Living Room

Working under the motto “Public service is a good thing. Politics can be too,” GU Politics pulls back the curtain on the political process. They do this by giving students direct access to top political practitioners, facilitating conversations and fostering opportunities to promote better understanding of various careers in politics and public service.

My first involvement in their programming actually came before many first-year students were on campus, before New Student Orientation began. I was accepted into GU Politics’ Campaign Bootcamp Pre-orientation program (“Pre-O” if you’re into acronyms). During the weeklong Bootcamp, my cohort of 20 incoming first years and I heard from campaign operatives, journalists, media strategists, pollsters, and more as we simulated a three-day campaign swing for our assigned candidates for the 2024 Michigan Senate race.

The experience itself was rewarding, but perhaps the most rewarding aspect of my Pre-O was the friends I made. I thank GU Politics for what I consider to be the smoothest possible transition into college. I’d easily say that more than half of my closest friends on campus were in my Campaign Bootcamp cohort, and I am writing this blog after spending the weekend in New York City with some of them for a summer reunion. Before classes start for the fall, I’ll be returning to the GU Politics Living Room for Campaign Bootcamp, this time to be a student leader.

Practice and Experience Over Papers and Exams

My involvement with GU Politics reaffirms the decision I made to attend Georgetown over a year ago. At the end of the college selection process, I was deciding between Georgetown for government and Northwestern Medill for journalism. I decided on Georgetown, in part, because of its unparalleled proximity to power, though I did not realize that such powerful individuals would be located just a short distance from Harbin Hall in the GU Politics Living Room. 

My favorite part of the Institute’s programming is the fellows. Each semester, GU Politics hosts some of the biggest names in politics, journalism and public service who teach but also learn from Georgetown students. Each fellow has a team of five Georgetown students on their Student Strategy Team (SST) and leads weekly discussion groups and office hours on various topics.

Fellows include former members of Congress, political strategists, DC reporters, former governors, chiefs of staff and cabinet officials.

The highlight of my spring semester was serving on the SST for Spring ‘25 fellow Meg Kinnard, who is a national politics reporter for the Associated Press. Every week, she led a weekly discussion group titled “Judging Journalism: Exploring Trustworthiness in Media” that explored topics such as the role of journalists, media distortion, opinion, and new media. As a member of her team, I marketed her events and discussions, met guests, such as Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), and even toured the AP Washington Bureau.

This summer, Meg’s husband, Geoffrey, invited her entire SST to their house in South Carolina as a surprise. Those of us who made it enjoyed a southern weekend on the lake, complete with fireworks for Carolina Day, a South Carolina tradition commemorating the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. To me, the gesture speaks not only to the authenticity of Meg and her family, but also the kinds of relationships forged in the basement of Healy Hall, in the GU Politics Living Room. 

In my view, GU Politics is the perfect complement to classes at Georgetown. It’s hard to put into words the impact of working on an AP reporter’s Student Strategy Team and taking a journalism class simultaneously, or learning about the U.S. political system in lecture during an election year and hearing from a presidential candidate on their reflections on running for president shortly thereafter. Similarly, having direct access to political practitioners allows students like me to pick the brains of experts who have made a career in fields we might be interested in.    

When I was asked to write a reflection on my experiences with GU Politics, I was all for it; I’ve enjoyed their programming and wanted to share some of the opportunities and experiences provided to me in the past year. As a high school senior, I remember receiving a flyer from the GU Politics table during GAAP weekend and wondering if I’d be lucky enough to see a high-profile guest speaker maybe once in my four years at Georgetown.

If someone told me that I’d meet some of the country’s top campaign strategists in August, chat in office hours with MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend in October, sit within an arm’s reach of the White House press secretary in March, and tour the AP Newsroom in April, I would have thought they were crazy. But experiences such as these are typical on the Hilltop, and can only happen at a place like Georgetown.