On Thursday of this week I completed the third and final part of my Plastino experience at the International Justice Mission Headquarters in Washington, DC. Needless to say, as co-founder and chapter president of UD's IJM, I was beyond excited for this visit. It only lasted a day, but it was one jam packed with things to do. Seth Wispelwey, the Field Organizer for the Government Relations and Advocacy (GRA) department was my inside contact and set up the entire day's agenda for me. I got to sit in and offer my comments on a new advocacy presentation he gave; I received a tour of the office and (one of my favorite parts)- got to be a part of the staff prayer (they do this EVERYDAY and it's mandatory for all. Emails and phone calls stop, and staff members bring up prayer requests pertaining to the current projects at hand. I loved it!). I also got the opportunity to interview four members of the GRA dept: Holly Burkhalter, the Vice President of the department, Erica Boonstra, the Senior Advocacy Manager, Clara Campbell, the Online Campaign Manager, and of course, Seth. I gained so much insight from them about what advocacy looks like and how it operates! Then, Seth and I headed to Capitol Hill for meeting with Valli Sanmugalingam and Hailie Soifer (pictured above), aids to Senator Coons (Delaware). I had already been in contact with Sen. Coons's office, urging him to co-sponsor the S.1249 bill (which he did!). This meeting was simply to put faces to names, and to strengthen the relationship between the office and IJM at UD, as well as IJM as a whole. All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and the perfect way to end my Plastino Adventures. Stay tuned for one last wrap-up post! :)














