I was a junior when I sat down for my first journalism class at Georgetown. I had never seen my name in print. Four classes later, I had an internship with The Hill newspaper and was covering politics for The Hoya. When then-CIA Director George Tenet came to Gaston Hall to defend his agency's Iraqi intelligence, my story on the front page of The Hoya the next morning was the same story on the front page of every major newspaper in America. When Georgetown alumna Stephanie Herseth ran for Congress, I covered her race for The Hill, the largest newspaper on Capitol Hill.

Without journalism instruction at Georgetown, I never would have had the courage to write my first story for The Hoya, never mind know how to do it right. But thanks to great Georgetown professors and energetic classmates, I learned and fell in love with journalism at the same time. As a senior when I first wandered into The Hoya's newsroom, I was sure I'd be behind the learning curve. But I found my journalism classes prepared me well.

Thanks to help from the Georgetown journalism community, I took a great internship at The Hill second semester of my senior year. I wrote real stories that appeared side-by-side with The Hill's regular reporters' work. I learned what a real newsroom was like and had free rein to question candidates, congressmen, anyone I chose.

Today, I'm working for the "other side," for a Member of Congress, but I know how valuable my journalism experience was. It has made me not only a better writer, but also a better questioner and listener. No class during my Georgetown career had a more important effect on my life than that first journalism course my junior year.

Links to Stories

• GOPAC looks for new life in minority voters: Some Republicans say new direction creating instability (The Hill)
• Lawmakers watch their children go off to war (The Hill)
• S.D. GOP taps candidate for Janklow seat (The Hill)
• From the Front Lines: Hoyas Lend a Hand in N.H. (The Hoya)
• Tenet Defends Iraq Intelligence (The Hoya)