Amongst George Washington University, Georgetown, Florida and other major universities, stood three Wayne State College students.

Senior political science majors and Pi Sigma Alpha (political science honors society) members Lukas Sutton, Katherine Kotas and Colleen Hupke had the opportunity to present their papers in front of professors and final year graduate students from Georgetown and George Washington University.

After their work was presented, they got to sit with the judges for some constructive criticism on making their papers better. Sutton and Hupke presented on religion and politics while Kotas presented on public policy.

“I think it’s just a great experience all around for people to go out there,” Hupke said.

“You don’t really realize how much you learn until you go out there and get to apply that to what you’re already learning in the classroom.”

Sutton’s paper discussed Muslim voting trends and how 9/11 drastically changed which party Muslims voted for in presidential elections and why.

The panels were split between four different time periods. While students were not presenting, they could listen to other subjects of their interest, which was Hupke’s favorite part of the trip.

“I had never been to D.C. For me that’s the Promised Land,” Sutton said. “It gave me a chance to show my abilities as a writer and speaker to a large audience and show what WSC students can do was great.”

The WSC students also had the opportunity to visit the Jefferson and Lincoln monuments, Supreme Court and Library of Congress, and received the opportunity to meet with the senior U.S. Senator from the state of Nebraska, Deb Fischer.

Fischer’s staff took them on a private tour around the capital, showing them through the tunnels and where senators come and go when they’re voting. They also received tickets to go see sessions at the house of senate.

They were able to branch out to other students and graduates on Friday, February 12, and spent the day at George Washington University.

“I enjoyed watching all the other panels,” Hupke said. “I got to learn a lot of what other people were researching.

I even exchanged information with someone from Texas who was researching health care policy, which is something that I’m interested in.”