Cool People (In the Classroom)

Hey, so I know I wrote about guest speakers at GW, but I forgot to mention guest lecturers!  This is when a professor brings in a colleague or an expert to speak to the class about their experiences and answer questions from the class.

Last year in my Campaign Reporting class my professor brought in the creator of FactCheck.org.  He discussed starting a web business, researching political claims, and writing the truth.  It was really great to see how our lessons in class can be used outside of the classroom in a not-so traditional way.

This morning Bob Herbert, op-ed columnist for the New York Times, spoke to my Editorial and Persuasive Writing class.  He spoke to us about how the editorial board worked at the New York Times, the differences between editorials and op-eds, the future of print journalism, and many more topics!  One of his greatest testaments was that you have to work really hard to be successful in the journalism world, and take what you think is hard work and he means more than that.  And then take what you think is more than hard work and it is even more than that.  I know that sounds confusing (and daunting) but it is nice to hear the truth of the situation.  While I do not want to go into journalism, I think it is a good lesson to learn.  You have to work even harder than hard.

In my American President class Sophomore year my professor brought in Charles Manatt, former DNC chair and former Chair of the Board of Trustees at GW.  He spoke about election processes and specifically on campaign finance.  Mr. Manatt was a great resource for the class and to GW in general!

I will be sure to keep updating this post to new guest lecturers, but for now I am off to class!

If you have any questions please be sure to email me at kwollner@gwu.edu!  I love hearing from all of you!