{"id":60634,"date":"2026-02-18T14:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60634"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:54:20","slug":"a-living-evolving-experiment-in-education-d-c-program-turns-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/a-living-evolving-experiment-in-education-d-c-program-turns-50\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A living, evolving experiment in education\u2019: D.C. program turns 50"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alumni reunite to share memories, stories from their time in the program<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EMU Washington Semester program started off in the fall of 1976 as a \u201chigh-risk proposition,\u201d recalls Phil Baker-Shenk \u201979<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a high risk for the college, a high risk for us individual students, and certainly a high risk for (program founder and director) Nelson Good \u201968<\/strong> and Arden Shank<\/strong>, who staffed it,\u201d said Baker-Shenk, one of the first students in the yearlong program (then known as the Washington Study-Service Year or WSSY) from 1976-77. \u201cIt was a high risk all around, and yet people with good ideas decided to plunge in, take that risk, and make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years later, that big gamble has paid off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alumni of the urban studies program\u2014the only such program offered at Anabaptist-affiliated institutions\u2014credit it with giving them improved professional confidence, greater clarity about career direction, more comfort in working with people different than they are, and an increased awareness of systemic injustices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each semester and summer, students from EMU and partner schools such as Bethel College, Bluffton University, and Goshen College converge at the Nelson Good House in the culturally diverse and multiethnic Brookland neighborhood of Washington D.C. It\u2019s there that they learn to live in a shared community, cooking and eating meals together, managing a collective budget and household responsibilities, and navigating conflict with maturity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students gain real-world professional experience in their chosen field of study through internship placements, study the history and social dynamics of the city, and immerse themselves in the rich culture and vibrancy of the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n