Name: Elyssa Giordano
Year: Senior, 2014
Major/Minor: Politics, History
Where are you from? Waldwick, NJ
What activities are you/were you involved in? Current Student Ambassador and member of the executive board,Former President of College Republicans, Former Member of SGA
Why did you choose Marymount? Location, size, and the politics program. I really liked how teachers included trips to DC in lesson plans and encouraged you to take advantage of the resources around you.
How has Marymount helped you/played a part in achieving your future goals? Marymount gave me the skills I needed to take advantage of the great opportunity DC has to offer young professionals. With being in the perfect location, I’ve had the advantage to intern and work several semesters while here. I’ve not only had the opportunity to build my resume, but also build my network simultaneously, which in DC is way more important. If I had attended a school in the middle of nowhere with the same program, I definitely would not have had the same opportunity.
Have you completed an internship? If so, tell us about it! I’ve done several. My first internship my second semester of freshman year was working for my Congressman Scott Garrett on the hill. This opened my door to see what DC really had to offer, and the different “paths” you can explore within politics. From there, I interned at the American Conservative Union, which led to a Staff Assistant job for about 8 months. It was here I learned I really excelled in events, and became passionate about them. I did a communications internship at Americans for Prosperity as well, but it really helped decide I liked events more.
What’s on your bucket list to do before you graduate? Watch the sun come up from the Lincoln Memorial.
Most embarrassing moment? Last semester. Walked into the correct class I was registered for, confirmed what class it was, but was told I was in the wrong spot, they directed me where to go. I sat in a lower level theology class for about 15 minutes, wrong syllabus in my hand before realizing I had already taken the class. I awkwardly had to walk out in front of 30 people and explain why I was doing so. And then walk back into the class I was sent out of and explain why I was so late.
Most memorable moment? Being invited to go out to eat with the late Professor Rhett Leverett’s graduate class to a Lebanese restaurant, Layla’s, owned by a Marymount family. Totally recommend it!
Celebrity crush? Chase Crawford.Â
Advice for incoming freshmen? Your experience is what you make of it. Don’t be so quick to want to transfer. Marymount has just as much opportunities as any other school, you just have to find that opportunity and find your place here.
This or That
- Butler Hall or Rowley Hall? Butler
- Clarendon or DC? Clarendon now, DC two years ago
- Living on campus or living off campus? Off. I think it comes with age and maturity though. Two years ago, we left windows open with the heat on. Now I sound like my mother complaining when people turn the heat up too high!! Plus utilities eat away from my new bag fund and nobody got time for that!
- Yoga or cardio? Yoga, Spark Yoga near Courthouse, best in Arlington!
- Tyson’s or Pentagon? Tyson’s, love the C. Wonder there! And free parking.