Waynesburg students meet political leaders in capital
Waynesburg University student Vincent Morrow of Waynesburg gives U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy a Stover Center challenge coin during the group’s visit to Washington, D.C.
Waynesburg University Stover scholars stand with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., in his senate office.
Students in Waynesburg University’s Stover Center program met the federal government’s movers and shakers earlier this month during a whirlwind visit to Washington, D.C.
Larry Stratton, a Waynesburg University professor and director of the Stover program, said the trip to the nation’s capital was a busy one, with the 21 students visiting seven prominent political and journalism leaders, including a lengthy discussion with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas did not live up to his notoriously quiet reputation on the bench when he spent nearly two hours with the students, engaging in a lively question and answer session as the students probed him on Constitutional law.
“I was expecting it to end sooner, but he kept encouraging them to ask questions,” Stover said. “It really was an amazing encounter.”
This was the sixth visit the Stover scholars have made to the capital. In previous years, the group met with Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Sonia Sotomayor, along with retired justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Elizabeth Trump, a Waynesburg University freshman from Uniontown, called the meeting with Thomas “indescribable” during the two-day trip Nov. 2 and 3.
“This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget, and will reflect upon for the rest of my life,” she said.
The students also met with U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, whose district covers half of Greene County, the day before a crucial vote was expected on mental health legislation that the Republican congressman promoted.
Stratton said there was some excitement when a bell rang in the office and Murphy was ushered off to the House floor for a vote on another matter.
Stratton also arranged meetings with two prominent journalists. Peter Canellos, the executive editor of Politico.com, a website that covers all things politics, talked to the students about the ever-changing ways of journalism and how news is now delivered to readers. The group also met with Washington Post columnist George Will, whose writings are syndicated in papers across the country.
Senators Tom Carper, D-Del., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., also spent time with the group.
“We met an array of people involved in dynamics of politics and Constitutional law,” Stratton said. “There was a lot of energy in the trip. There was a lot of planning and a lot of trial and error.”
The Stover Center for Constitutional Students is a program tailored to Waynesburg University students who are interested in politics. The D.C. trip allows students to meet face-to-face with today’s national political leaders and grooms them to become the policy-makers of tomorrow.