SPS 2012: Wearing out a Little Shoe Leather!

Liam's Good-Looking Leather Shoes!

When the leather shoes come out at the St. Albans School of Public Service (see photo at left), it means one thing: an off-campus trip for which "Business Attire" is required (translation: we're going someplace good).  Yesterday the leather shoes came out of the dorm closets and got plenty of work, as SPS 2012 visited the U.S. Capitol in the morning for a meeting with their SPS classmate Frank's dad, Congressman Frank Pallone from New Jersey, and then checked out how another of the branches of government does things with a visit with a United States District Court Judge James Boasberg in the afternoon.

Congressman Pallone talking with our group

At the Capitol, Congressman Pallone spoke briefly about his path to politics before fielding a wide-ranging series of questions about current political issues, the 2012 Presidential Election, and how the political climate in Washington has changed during his time in Congress.  We then spent a little time in the House Gallery, listening to various Representatives make speeches on issues such as the war in Afghanistan and on repeal of the Affordable Healthcare Act (aka "Obamacare").  (Click HERE for a link to a YouTube video of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson's speech on the repeal issue -- she was one of the speakers we saw during our visit to the House Gallery.)

After a brief stop back at St. Albans for sustenance, we all piled back on the big white bus and headed to the United States District Court for the District of the District of Columbia (yes, that is a lot of "Districts" in a row).  Our host, Judge James Boasberg, a native Washingtonian and St. Albans School alum (click HERE for his judicial biography) posed a number of hypotheticals to the SPS 2012 class to give them a sense of the responsibility and difficulty of the decisions that prosecutors and judges must make in the criminal justice system.

Enjoy some photos below from our day!

Janielle in front of her future workplace?  (We think so!)

On the stairs en route to the Gallery of the House of Representatives to see Congress in session! (From left: Araba, Olivia, Jordan, and Thomas P.)

SPS 2012 with our coveted passes to the House Gallery, to see Congress in session!

Max and Luke on the stairs from the House Gallery

SPS 2012 at the Capitol!