D.C. Texas Exes Gather for State of The Union
Washington, D.C. may be 1,500 miles from Austin, but it didn’t feel that way on Tuesday night, when more than 70 Longhorns gathered at an oyster bar to watch the State of the Union address and welcome the new LBJ Washington Center to the area.
The watch party featured speaker Mike McCurry, former Clinton administration press secretary. McCurry worked on President Clinton’s State of the Union addresses and was able to offer insight on the work that goes into creating the addresses, as well as how the practice has changed over the years.
Sadie Cornelius, BS ’05, Life Member, communications chair for the Texas Exes D.C. Chapter, says McCurry focused on the “roll out, roll in” concept.
“Before, there wasn’t social media, so people didn’t know what to expect and the State of the Union address would roll out new information,” Cornelius says. “Now, the President puts the information out there in a lot of ways, so the address is a chance to roll it all in and bring it together.”
The LBJ Washington Center’s inaugural director, Tom O’Donnell, joined with the chapter for the first time to introduce the center, which will offer LBJ School students the opportunity to spend six months in Washington doing an apprenticeship and taking core classes focusing on policy-making at the national level.
Cornelius says the Texas Exes and the LBJ School alumni chapters hope to work more with the center in the future to create an even stronger Longhorn community in D.C.
“There’s several thousand Texas alumni here, along with the LBJ alumni, so we’re leveraging both to offer as many resources as we can,” she says.
You can learn more about the LBJ Washington Center in the episode of The Hook below. Can’t see the video? Click here.
