Three students from the Fall 2012 cohort joined the Ann Arbor staff this term to assist with recruiting and maintaining contacts with program alums for the winter 2013 semester.  In their first two weeks back on campus, Ben Eikey, Shannon Housley and Alicia Tirpak spent their free time going to a variety of large and small lectures to tell other students about the Washington semester and encourage them to attend the Information/Poster session (which is always held in the first month of the term, about a week before the application deadline for the next recruiting cycle).  The students also set up booths for events like Winterfest, and tables for catching passersby in the main lobby of Haven Hall.  Their focus is to get word out to students about the program, and to collect names  e-mail information for the electronic recruiting.  It's a chaotic start, but critical in getting information to new applicants for the program.  

Shannon Housley, a junior in Women's Studies and Political Science, says "I am so happy to give back to the Michigan in Washington program as a proud alumna.  I want to pay it forward and help other students make the best of this incredible opportunity as well!"  

Alicia Tirpak agrees, saying that "MIW is an amazing opportunity that all students should be aware of - there is truly a legacy of outstanding students that have been involved in the program and I'm excited about staying involved."  

Although recruiting lasts the entire semester, with visits to classrooms, clubs and events, one of the projects that the ambassadors are undertaking is to contact each student who has been through the MIW program since Fall of 2005 to find out where they are, what they are doing and what the future holds.  In this day of mass communication, all agreed that one of the strengths of the program is individual contact and they decided to keep that spirit alive.