D.C. Experience Scholarship Update: Beckenholdt participates in World Refugee Day activites

Ivy Beckenholdt is one of four recipients of the 2019 D.C. Experience Scholarship, which provides financial support for Drake University students interning in Washington, D.C., for the summer. She will provide bi-weekly updates of her time in D.C.

I’ve had the opportunity to attend great eye-opening briefings these last two weeks.

On World Refugee Day I attended a briefing where Rep. Ilhan Omar spoke. She was a refugee who came to America for a better and safer life, and now she is a member of Congress. This briefing made me more appreciative of the safety we have in the U.S. and made me interested in working to help asylum seekers after college. I learned about how much refugees offer to the U.S. and how our country should be more appreciate of them. It has been an exciting time in D.C. with the recent Supreme Court decisions on gerrymandering and the census. Since the internship housing is across the street from the Supreme Court, I got to see many people gather prior to the decision outside the court house. On the walk to work I even saw many news cameras awaiting the decision.

On the weekends I have had the opportunity to explore D.C. further. I went to Waterfront Park, where they have an art piece that resembles the color piece at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines. I also went to Oxon Hill, where they have a Ferris wheel that lights up beautifully at night.