Illinois State students on the 2015 trip to Washington, D.C.
Seven students, led by Professor Erik Rankin, traveled to the nation’s capital over the week of Memorial Day 2015.
The seven-day Civic Engagement Trip was sponsored by the American Democracy Project and the Department of Politics and Government. Highlights included witnessing President Barack Obama deliver his Memorial Day address at the Arlington National Cemetery Wreath Laying Ceremony.
Students stayed on the George Washington University campus. Rankin noted that this afforded them the opportunity to “make numerous professional contacts benefiting their internships and future job searches.” The trip provided other opportunities to meet with groups and visit organizations such as the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Humane Society of the United States, No Labels, Woodrow Wilson Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. House of Representatives (meeting led by Illinois State alum Corine Weiler), National Museum of the American Indian, and the Newseum.
Rankin also notes that as a result of this trip, “students plan to start a chapter of No Labels on campus in the fall.”
