Now faced with America’s recent declaration of war with Afghanistan and the high-strung atmosphere of the present political environment, Casey Dunagan, Joel Konkle-Parker, Jenny Reeves and Brad Sweet all face their futures within our nation’s capital with differing outlooks but a united sense of purpose. To an extent, the attacks have altered these students’ present views of their futures.
“I came here (Washington) to learn more about government, hoping it would help my career when I return to the Southeast,” Dunagan said. “The only way my expectations have changed is that now I plan on taking a more active role in local government.”
Sweet, who works in the Pentagon, said the recent attacks have had an unwarranted effect for him.
“As a professional working in the national security field, one side effect of the Sept. 11 attacks is an increase in my job security,” Sweet said. Everyone in Washington, D.C., is very focused on the threat to our nation, and there is a great demand for individuals with training and experience in this area.”
However, beyond the bounds of how the current events have affected their personal futures, each of these students and alumni report that recent events have given them a renewed sense of purpose.
“I would be lying if I were to say that in the days following Sept. 11, I had not thought about returning to Mississippi sometime soon. I have more recently come to the conclusion though that I came to Washington for a reason,” said Reeves, who works in the office of Sen. Thad Cochran.
Her sentiments are echoed in the words of her counterpart Konkle-Parker, an intern working in the office of Rep. Charles Pickering.
“My role may not be the most important one in the grand scheme of things, but I do have one, and I look at it with a little more pride now,” Konkle-Parker said.
It is this sense of pride that is altering their present perspective on all the tasks that they perform daily, and it is this sense of pride which has become universal within all the students and MSU graduates that currently find themselves in Washington, D.C.
“Most Mississippi State alumni in the Washington, D.C., area either work on Capitol Hill or in the Pentagon, and they all seem very focused on doing their part to help in the war effort,” Sweet said.
Finding a voice within their daily activities, these students and alumni find that the recent events have driven them to excel within their daily duties and activities.
“I am continuing my work for Sen. Cochran by helping in any way that I can. I do not want to be a hindrance to my office by being distracted by what is going on and not pulling my weight, so I am probably more focused on doing a thorough job with my work,” Reeves said.
Required to deal with the complexity of evolving developments, they are forced to adapt to various changes within their duties.
“My duties have changed somewhat, but not completely,” Konkle-Parker said.
“I am having to learn a lot more about bioterrorism,” Reeves said. “Healthcare is one of the issues I correspond with constituents with, and I have had to familiarize myself with a topic that I previously had no experience with.”