{"id":708376,"date":"2026-06-16T23:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/708376\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T23:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:16:10","slug":"capital-connections-cohort-visits-u-s-capitol-gain-insight-into-congress-today-at-elon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/708376\/","title":{"rendered":"Capital Connections cohort visits U.S. Capitol, gain insight into Congress | Today at Elon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Study USA \u201cCapital Connections\u201d students toured the U.S. Capitol with alumnus Jacob Stoken, gaining an inside look at Congress and careers on Capitol Hill. The experience is part of a hands-on D.C. program blending coursework, internships and alumni engagement.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\"AStudents take in the sights of the Rotunda.<\/p>\n

On Friday, June 12, students enrolled in the Study USA Washington, D.C. \u201cCapital Connections\u201d program had the opportunity to visit the United States Capitol, where they learned more about Congress and the architectural history of the Capitol Building on a special tour organized by Jacob Stoken \u201922, policy aid to House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. After the tour, Stoken sat down with students in the leader\u2019s office in the Capitol for an extended Q&A session, where he shared insights about getting started as a Congressional staffer and provided an inside perspective on how Congress operates day-to-day. After the Q&A, students traveled with Stoken to the Rayburn House Office Building for additional conversation.<\/p>\n

Joel Shelton, faculty director for Study USA, Washington, D.C. and associate professor of political science and public policy, and Tom Kerr, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Policy, joined students at the Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am exceedingly grateful to alumni like Jacob for supporting the \u2018Capital Connections\u2019 program in its first year,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI\u2019ve known Jacob since he was a student in my Philosophy, Politics, and Economics capstone course, and it is especially meaningful to see him thriving in Washington and to experience how generously he is mentoring the next generation of Elon students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The visit to the Capitol is part of the innovative curriculum for \u201cCapital Connections:<\/p>\n

\"StudentsStudents visit a committee hearing room in Rayburn House Office Building.<\/p>\n

Power, People, and Place in Washington, D.C.,\u201d is a place-based capstone seminar in the Elon Core Curriculum that integrates classroom learning and direct engagement with D.C.\u2019s institutions, cultural sites, and neighborhoods. Now in the fourth week of the nine-week program, students are busy interning in public and private sector institutions across the D.C. metro area, engaging with alumni, and attending special events and programming around Juneteenth and the upcoming 250th Independence Day celebration. This weekend, students will attend the Shakespeare Theatre Company\u2019s widely acclaimed production of Othello and will join a special tour of Klein Theatre led by Company Manager Morgan Engle \u201922.<\/p>\n

Students interested in this experience for summer 2027 may begin applying on Sept. 1. For more information about the program, contact Anna Smith, director of Study USA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Study USA \u201cCapital Connections\u201d students toured the U.S. Capitol with alumnus Jacob Stoken, gaining an inside look at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-708376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}