From Tundra to Textbook: The Making of a Capstone Experience

By Michael Goldstein, Director of the UC Berkeley Semester in Washington Program

January 28, 2004

As seven Cal students trudged across the frozen New Hampshire tundra each morning, the educational rationale for what was often a challenging and even painful experience was certainly not foremost in their minds. Among these students, the 2004 New Hampshire primary will resonate, at least in the short run, in very different ways. For some, it will result in committed campaign junkies. For others, it will prompt a commitment to avoid participation in a presidential campaign unless the primary season begins in Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa or the U.S. Virgin Islands. But these very distinct reactions to the frozen politics of New Hampshire should not hide the fact that the experiences of all seven Berkeley students will most likely become a critical, if not formative, part of their undergraduate experience.

Experiential education works best when it integrates a practical experience with a scholarly literature and a discussion of broader ideas. For the seven Berkeley students in New Hampshire, all of whom are participants in the UC Berkeley-Washington Program, the one-week campaign experience is the beginning of a semester-long research project on the presidential selection process. For Gary Li, the controversy over the absence of Governor Dean's wife on the campaign trail has piqued his interest in the impact of candidate spouses on candidate message and image. For Jenny Felsen, the clear differences in resources among the campaigns has already pushed her to pose a variety of questions about campaign finance. These questions in turn will be reinforced and redefined further by the individual student's Washington internship that begins when they return from New Hampshire. Li, for example, is interning in the Office of Senator Hillary Clinton, a former campaign spouse herself.

The New Hampshire campaign is but one example by Berkeley's Washington Program of the integration of practical experience with a more formal and traditional curriculum. All of the twenty-four students in the spring 2004 program intern up to four days a week, write a major research paper, and participate in one or two elective courses especially geared to the practical dimensions of politics in Washington. Built into the research-paper seminar and the two elective courses are over twenty guest speakers who also bring the world of Washington into the classroom.

Equally important in this educational equation is the close working relationship between faculty and students. Indeed, faculty members not only work with students in seminar-size classes but also attempt to experience the practical and experiential side of our program with students. Watching the candidates, talking to campaign staff, and listening to my own students discuss their daily experiences helped me understand better both the dynamics of the New Hampshire race and the presidential selection process in general. I also came away with some very practical tidbits of life experience: an electric toothbrush will self-destruct at temperatures of -15 degrees or below.

In sum, Berkeley has created in Washington one variant of a seminal undergraduate experience. Often labeled as a "capstone," it is one that builds upon previous training and course work as it transforms the student in the process, clarifying career goals and future direction. A week on the campaign trail in New Hampshire was designed to be part of that kind of experience. It will certainly produce more informed, aware and astute citizens. It may also ultimately produce a political scientist or two, or a news anchor. And it even might produce a future presidential candidate who was first introduced to the campaign rigors of New Hampshire in January as part of a University of California program.

---

The seven L&S students in New Hampshire have described on various media their experiences:

• Jenny Felsen, Report from New Hampshire (UC Berkeley NewsCenter)
• Mollye Hooper, New Hampshire Journal from the John Edwards Campaign (Youth Radio)
• Gary Li, UC Report from New Hampshire (UC Berkeley NewsCenter)
• Katherine Lyons, "Coordinating Broadcasts For CBS" (Daily Californian)
• Kaetlin Miller, "Cold-Calling On John Kerry’s Behalf" (Daily Californian)
• Paige Momsen, "Pounding the Pavement for Wesley Clark " (Daily Californian)
• Hanna Siddiqui Report from New Hampshire (UC Berkeley NewsCenter)