Luke Hughes (SFS’27) is a Georgetown Storyteller and junior in the School of Foreign Service studying science, technology and international affairs. He is from Lake Forest, Illinois.
When I visited the Hilltop in the spring of my senior year of high school for Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program (GAAP) Weekend, there was one aspect of the school community that stood out to me most.
Hoyas love being Hoyas. What makes this university is that the members of its community — students, faculty, and staff — are so passionate about living and working here. Georgetown students are dedicated to leaving the Hilltop better than they found it. The academic opportunities at this school have enriched my life, and it was my dream to give back to the people who made this possible. Our professors constantly remind us how proud they are to be educating the next generation of public and private sector leaders. And time and time again, I have met university staff who have been here for decades, for one reason and one reason only — they love being a Hoya.
After observing this unique quality of the school during my GAAP Weekend, I felt encouraged to serve as a representative of the school as soon as I hit the ground running that fall. Every Hoya I know serves a special role on the Hilltop, making the community the special place it is. My role on campus, as seen through my extracurricular activities, can be shortened to one phrase: a Georgetown ambassador.
Sharing My Story With the World
Serving as a Georgetown Storyteller provides me a platform to share my unique experiences as a Hoya. I have taken people from around the world with me as I studied ocean acidification in the Great Barrier Reef, wrote about how my Jesuit education encourages me to be an active citizen, and gone on runs to the monuments around Washington, DC. I applied to this incredible cast of students because I am so grateful for all that this school has to offer, and I needed an outlet to express my appreciation.
Georgetown’s social media platforms appear different from those of most schools across the country. That’s because our university leaders know that stories from the students themselves are what resonate best with prospective students and families. The 15+ other Storytellers and I have one goal in mind at all times: to provide glimpses into the tight-knit community that Georgetown is, even through a screen.
Touring Future Hoya Families
Members of the Blue and Gray Tour Guide Society begin each walk around campus with a simple reminder: we are unpaid. Us tour guides, representing all five schools, 25+ states, and 15+ countries, are there to share the real and authentic view of Georgetown. And with each “Hey, Luke!” I receive along the tour, I can see our campus visitors excited to see how tight-knit a community the Hilltop really is.
I willingly spent 20+ hours of the spring semester of my freshman year training to be a tour guide because I knew of the impact that Blue and Gray had on future Hoyas. Like all the other guides in the club, I find so much joy in being the first face that prospective students see on campus, that student that exudes so much passion for the campus that I have the pleasure to call home for four years, and the voice that reassures parents that their soon-to-be high school graduates will excel at Georgetown, no doubt.
When current students ask me why I love Blue and Gray, I always respond with the same answer: because it’s a club for those who love Georgetown. While the 100+ tour guides come from all different backgrounds, there is one thing that unites us all: our passion for this school and our desire to share that with over 60,000 visitors each year. I attend a 3-hour long review session each semester so I can learn how to perfect my touring skills because I am so grateful to the opportunity to be the reason why future Hoyas decide to apply to, and eventually enroll in, this school.
Bringing New Voices to Campus
Serving on the Executive Board of the Georgetown University Lecture Fund this semester has been such a joy. My responsibility is to assist the 20+ members of the club in bringing the world’s leading voices — in academia, sports, medicine, politics, culture, and more — to campus. We do this because Georgetown students are inquisitive. Hoyas want to learn more about the communities around them. Bringing guest speakers to campus gives students the opportunity to hear unique perspectives and form new opinions.
In a sense, the Lecture Fund is also there to connect Georgetown to the outside world. Time and time again, I have heard from guest speakers that Hoyas are some of the most curious and engaged audience members they have ever had. It’s sentiments like these that keep me motivated to bring more and more voices to campus. Hoyas are the type of students who will pack a room on a Tuesday night to hear Judy Thelen, the co-founder and CEO of Beli, or on a Monday afternoon to listen to Pakistani streetwear designer Zain Ahmad. It’s in moments like these where I see just how much Hoyas love our school. They’re willing to show up and show out to support their friends and the community that makes events like these possible.
There are so many things that make Georgetown so unique. The most special thing to me is the pride that the Georgetown community carries with their identity. We love being Hoyas.
