Friday, May 23rd
On Friday, May 23rd, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. sharp. It was the day I'd been waiting for since I had graduated a few days before. I was flying to Washington D.C. for the Democracy Camp program! I messaged the group chat with my cohort last night if anyone wanted to Uber together to SFO from Berkeley, so I was meeting up with Danielle Mitchell and Melanie Urbina in the early morning for our flight. Soon, we were embarking on our journey toward the nation’s capital. When we arrived at night, Ezra (one of our program coordinators) promptly set up some dinner for us as we sat for introductions and an orientation. The staff put together an introduction to the District of Columbia, which helped orient me to this new space I found myself in. We made a group excursion to Jeni's ice cream, which was touted as the best ice cream in DC. I decided to try a unique flavor called brambleberry ice cream, which was delicious. Soon after, some of us went to bed, but others decided to be adventurous and take some Lime scooters to ride around the National Mall at night. I was one of the adventurous. We rode around the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and went right up to the White House to peer into its gates. Although we were only meeting for the first time, I already felt so close to my new friends and roommates. Scootering around the White House at night was one of the most fun and memorable experiences I had during the program.
Saturday, May 24th
The next morning, we woke up to egg sandwiches on nice brioche buns from Cracked Eggery and coffee. If there's anything you need to know about the day-to-day experience in Democracy Camp, it's that this program will feed you well. We had several activities in the classroom at the UC Washington Center, including a name game to really make sure we knew each other, and a viewing of the documentary centering around Obama's presidential portrait, which we would later see at the National Portrait Gallery. After some discussion, we prepared to take the Metro toward the National Portrait Gallery to see it for ourselves. As a huge museum enthusiast, this was very exciting. The museum is quite large and has many galleries detailing the histories of various presidencies and the history of American government. I found myself spending what felt like hours strolling through beautiful artwork and centuries' worth of portraits. When I finally got to the floor with the presidential portraits, I saw something that unexpectedly left a huge impression on me, even to this day. I saw one of my peers, Shavar Martin, taking a photo with the Obama portrait with his African American graduation stole on. As I had gotten to know Shavar's story over the course of the nine-day program, I found that moment to be one of the most significant of the entire trip. For me, it symbolized the meaning of what this program was offering to us as marginalized people who usually don't have access to spaces of power in Washington, DC. I saw what it meant to see representations of ourselves in these Halls through the echo of President Obama in Shavar. It was profoundly powerful.
We all met in the courtyard of the museum and had a debrief session about what we saw. I really enjoyed these conversations because they opened my eyes to perspectives that I did not consider. Ezra framed the conversation around what mythologies were being constructed about living in America for visitors to see, and it really changed the way that I understood museum curation and the presentation of our legacy as a country.
After our time at the National Portrait Gallery ended, we made our way to the Nationals Ballpark to watch a baseball game between the Giants and the Nationals. As a group of students hailing from the Bay Area, it was exciting to see our home team, the Giants, play from across the country. It was a perfect sunny spring-almost-summer day for a baseball game. Most of my time was spent running around grabbing food with Ezra, and I got to try Rita's Italian Ice, which was incredible. After the baseball game ended, we had a free block of time to pretty much do anything we wanted. Some of the cohort decided to stay in and hang out, and others decided to go out to explore the nightlife in Washington D.C..
Sunday, May 25th
We started the day with breakfast in the classroom at the UC Washington Center before heading off to do a tour of the National Mall. We started off at the Jefferson Memorial, which was in the direct eyeline of the White House as a reminder of what values and morals this country was built on for the leaders of the country. Our tour guide was great and gave us a comprehensive review of the history as well as fun facts about the monuments. We additionally saw the FDR Memorial, which was really cool because it was a multi-part construction detailing each term of his presidency. The experience was multisensory with sounds, sights, and touch involved in telling the story of his leadership. For example, during periods of peace in his leadership, that section was very quiet with calm running water, compared to the start of the World War II, in which the layout of the scene was chaotic and the noise of the heavy waterfall overtook all other senses. We additionally saw the MLK Memorial and spent some time learning about its construction and the meaning behind it. From the front, you see a large white carving of MLK out of stone similar to Mount Rushmore. We learned from the tour guide that he is carved from what is called the stone of despair, and if you push back the sculpture of MLK into the stone, it would fit perfectly. Learning about the architecture of each memorial helped me understand how intentional the designs of memorials are.
We finally reached the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. These two sections had a particularly heavier mood to them since we were visiting the National Mall on the weekend of Memorial Day. All around us were fellow citizens who came to pay respects to these memorials with flowers and other memorabilia. As a Vietnamese American daughter of refugees from the Vietnam War, this moment had a significant weight for me. I had never been able to see the memorial until now, and I took it in with a surge of unexpected feelings. I wanted to be receptive to what I was supposed to feel based on the information the tour guide gave us and the significance of the design, but I couldn't help but be critical in asking who was left out and unrepresented in these memorials. Being in a cohort of all people of color, it was a question that was left unsaid yet present. At the last stop of our tour, we reached the Lincoln Memorial, which was directly across from the Washington Monument. We had the opportunity to go inside and take pictures with Lincoln, as well as stand at the exact spot where MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
After the tour, we were given a large chunk of free time. My roommates and I decided to go to Georgetown to explore the area, shop, and try the famous thick cookies from Levain Bakery. Some of my other cohort members also got to try the famous Georgetown Cupcakes, which looked amazing. In the evening, the entire cohort met up at Union Market, which is described as “a warehouse-like food market with a host of Artisans offering charcuterie, empanadas, gelato, and more.” We were given a $25 food budget to try anything from the wide range of unique food spots. I tried a Korean-Mexican fusion place called “Takorean.” Again, I have to tell you that this program will feed you very well.
On a side note, I was experiencing a minor health issue with my eye, and the staff was overwhelmingly supportive and helpful in seeing to my health. They offered to take me to the ER if it came to it, and I found that level of support to be instrumental to my ability to feel my best during the program. If anything were to come up, I know I would have been taken care of very well by the staff.
Monday, May 26th
Although we might have expected to be busy on the first weekday of the program, it was Memorial Day, so everything was closed and no one was available to meet us. We instead spent that time preparing for the upcoming days by reading the bios of all of the speakers that we would meet and preparing questions. At the time, it felt a little daunting to read about how accomplished these people that we would soon talk to were, but in retrospect, it was extremely helpful in guiding my ability to talk to them. We split off into groups and were assigned five to six individuals to read about and report back to the rest of the group. We also practiced techniques for networking in partners, so Fatima Morales and I had a fun time trying to nail our elevator pitches down.
Despite the holiday cutting our work week a bit shorter, the program had prepared a very fun and educational day for us that included visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Again, I'm a huge museum nerd, so this was the best outcome in my opinion. The museum sat right across from the Washington Monument and had a peculiar architecture with three-layered tiers of brown metalwork. I think my cohort members and I all agree that one of thebest moments of the program was eating soul food at the Sweet Home Cafe housed within the museum, where the food was authentic, delicious, and very, very filling. I got to try Haitian food, which consisted of chicken, beans, and rice. My other cohort members were particularly excited about the banana bread pudding. We all sat together at a large table and ‘broke bread together’ as my fellow cohort member Tristan Soto Moreno often said. We had the chance to explore the museum individually and witness the legacy of slavery as well as the significance of Black Culture in music, art, and pop culture. After heading back to the UCDC Center, we had a debrief of the museum visit since it was a very emotionally heavy experience.
Tuesday, May 27th
On Tuesday, we had an early morning grab-and-go breakfast in our rooms, so I woke up bright and early to try a new coffee spot with my roommate, Eshal Navqi, and sit in McPherson Square. We tried an Indonesian Cafe called DUA, which I highly recommend. We traveled to the Ford office building, where we had our panel with the House Natural Resources Committee staff. After an opportunity to ask questions and learn from former Matsui Center alum Ari Kretz, we made our way to the office of Representative Gil Cisneros to meet with his staff assistant, Sarah Marin, and Chief of Staff Martin Medrano (who are both Berkeley alums). We had lunch in the Longworth Cafe inside the Longworth (House) Building, which was essentially like a cafeteria-style eatery. We made our way to the Hart Senate Office Building to meet with Andres Gomez, who works under Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in communications. My peer Karla Vicencio Ramirez did a great job facilitating and moderating the conversation, and I think it was really helpful for the cohort to have a student moderator facilitate the discussion. It was a very busy day with a non-stop schedule, but I learned something profound every second I was there. We originally had plans to go to the Capitol building to take photos, but it was raining, so we decided to instead go back to the UCDC Center for a break before dinner.
Tuesday's dinner was particularly exciting for me because it was my favorite cuisine in the whole world, Ethiopian food. Most of my cohort had never tried it before, so I was really hyping it up on the way to Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant. Safe to say when we got there, everyone was happily enjoying the food and trying all the various varieties of lentils, meats, and vegetables on top of the injera (the spongy flat bread).
After that, we decided to hang out on U Street and possibly get dessert at the famous Ben's Chili Bowl Diner. A good number of us decided to rent Lime scooters to see Howard University. It was so much fun getting to see parts of Washington, DC, while riding around on scooters.
That night, when I got back to my apartment at the UCDC Center, I received a call from one of the student directors with an offer to moderate the panel of national security leaders the next day. I was super ecstatic! It was an amazing opportunity to take the lead on a part of the program, and I immediately began preparing my questions for the next day.
Wednesday, May 28th
Wednesday was a very big day. We had five different panels to attend and an alumni networking event at night. First thing in the morning, we had breakfast and then walked to the AFL-CIO office, which is the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. They met us with coffee and pastries, and we had a brief tour of the facilities. After that, we went to the education and labor advocacy panel, which was an amazing conversation for us as current students within the education system. We then traveled back to the UCDC Center, where we settled into the classroom to meet with a panel of former junior and senior leaders from the Department of Education during lunch. After a quick break, the national security panel finally came up, which was the one that I was moderating. This was exciting for me, and I was able to meet with two notable figures, Phil Stupak and Kemba Walden, who are great inspirations to me. We then relocated to Cassidy and Associates, where we had the government relations panel and learned about lobbying in Washington, D.C.
The last event of this day was the Cal alumni networking event, which was something that I was looking forward to all week. In all of the panels that we had attended, the one thing that stood out over and over again was the importance of networking. This event was an opportunity to put our skills to practice. I was able to meet most of the room and introduce myself to some very important people (even if the mood seemed a bit down with the current federal layoffs). I found myself quite inspired throughout my conversations at the networking event and was grateful for the opportunity to be there in that room.
Thursday, May 29th
Thursday was the earliest day of the entire program, and we needed to be down in the lobby by 8:00 a.m. in order to make it to the Supreme Court on time. How exciting! In my classes at UC Berkeley, I've read many Supreme Court cases, so the possibility of hearing an opinion read out loud with the justices only a few feet away from me was super exciting. I was personally just very excited to be in the same room as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Because the court does not announce in advance whether or not an opinion will be read, it was possible that we would simply sit there and witness attorneys being admitted to the Supreme Court bar for the entirety of our visit. However, we were lucky enough to witness an opinion read out loud by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. The opinion was a very substantial one in the ongoing efforts to limit the scope of environmental review in favor of streamlining infrastructure projects. I excitedly emailed my professor of Environmental Policy the second I left the courtroom, telling him every detail about how they changed the scope of a policy I had written my final paper about. I think back very fondly, remembering sitting next to my peers in the silent courtroom, where phones were not permitted. Some of us began attempting to draw the courtroom in place of taking a picture, which was really fun. I had the opportunity to take some pictures with the portrait of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the hallway outside, who is a huge reason I am pursuing public service and social justice. We later had the opportunity to speak with Judge Robert Dow, who is the Counselor to Chief Justice John Roberts. He allowed each one of us to ask questions and learn more about the day-to-day life working in the legal and judicial field.
After a quick stop at the Supreme Court gift shop, we took a couple of strides walking to the James Madison building and the Library of Congress, since it was only right across the street. We met up with a panel of law librarians of Congress who do the important work of the Law Library of Congress. I learned that it takes a whole lot to be a librarian here, as most (if not all) of the ones we met held a law degree AND a degree in library sciences. I found it fascinating that the library keeps archives of countries that no longer exist, as well as nations that can be perceived as a potential nation in the future. After the panel, we went through a tunnel to the Jefferson Building that houses the main reading room of the Library of Congress for a quick tour. I found this building to be the most stunning of every important government building we had set foot in so far, with the most ornate, awe-inspiring reading room. It was richly decorated, and an incredible sight to see.
We soon headed to our next event, back in the classroom in the UCDC building, which was a government relations panel with the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). We had a chance to learn about the way the University of California lobbies Congress for funding and determines what resources should be prioritized. This panel touched many of us on a personal level, as we were the very students depending on the funding they advocated for (Pell grants, financial aid, and more). At the end of the session, we had some time to network with the speakers, as we’ve had for every panel event in the program. We then had our final panel of the day, which was an alum panel, where the reality of living and working in DC was shared with us. We had dinner at around 7 pm, and then we had free time to relax and do whatever we wanted after a very long day.
Friday, May 30th
Last day! My spirits were high despite how busy and exhausted we had been from running around Washington D.C. for so many days. We started out with breakfast and ventured into the last few official events of the program. First, we attended a panel with former senior attorneys from the Department of Justice, which was interesting because they seemed to be the most impacted by the current administration. It honestly took a “depressing turn” as one of the speakers commented, because we were visiting Washington, DC during a quite perilous time. It is undeniable that this year faced certain challenges and unexpected outcomes in elections than what we might have had in mind when we first applied to Democracy Camp. We were entering the world of politics, and it was bound to be messy. I found that moment to be telling about the reality we will live in for the next few years.
After the Department of Justice panel, we made our way to the LULAC building, or the League of United Latin American Citizens, which was really cool. We sat at a round table with several of the interns and researchers working there, whom we had the chance to talk to afterward. We watched a video on the history of LULAC, and I was surprised to learn that they have been around since 1929 and were instrumental to advocacy efforts to desegregate schools, change demographic discrimination against Latinos, and more.
We then took an Uber to the Capitol building to take our headshots and photos. It was a gorgeous sunny day after some days of rain, so it was perfect for our photoshoot. We had some downtime in between our next group activity, which would be a debrief of the program. My roommate Tamera Martin and I decided to cheekily take a quick trip to Georgetown with the excuse to go shopping (we did stop by the Brandy Melville), but we also went to buy Sprinkles cupcakes and cards as a thank you for the staff members. I texted our group chat the plan, and went around making sure everyone in the program was able to sign each of the four cards (for four staff members) with their own personal message.
During that time, some misunderstandings and conflicts that occurred with students during the program were resolved by the very supportive staff. I found it amazing how much patience, attentiveness, and care the staff put into making sure every single person in the program felt heard, seen, and understood. Everyone in the cohort was willing to have an honest discussion about our feelings and experiences throughout the program. Despite the obstacles, we were able to overcome them and genuinely grow stronger together as a group. After dinner was served, Tamera and I called the staff in and presented them with the cupcakes and thank you cards. Each one of us in the program went around in a large circle and expressed how much this program changed our lives for the better. Many tears. Many hugs. So much love was felt in that room. When asked what the best part of Democracy Camp was, an overwhelming majority of us said, “being in a cohort of such amazing peers.” Despite only being 9 days, we all couldn’t help but feel that we had formed such a strong bond with new lifelong friends.
Saturday, May 31st
We packed our bags, cleared our rooms, and settled into the classroom one last time. Some cohort members had already left by morning to catch early flights home, so those of us who were left enjoyed one last breakfast together. As we all left one by one, we exchanged one last hug and goodbye.
I couldn’t stress this more: Democracy Camp was so life-changing in many incredible ways, and I am so grateful I was a part of such an incredible experience.