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"Hi CGs! I just got back from an amazing conference in Washington, D.C. sponsored by Campus Progress at the Center for American Progress. I have to admit, the Campus Progress promo featuring supercute Ryan Gosling (I&amp;#039;m a sucker for The Notebook) convinced me to apply to the conference, and I&amp;#039;m so glad I did! I spent last semester interning in Washington and really miss it, so it was great to be back and see some of my D.C. friends. Campus Progress picked &amp;quot;Our Time is Now&amp;quot; as the theme of the conference, and politicians, journalists, activists and other students used this opportunity to urge us to become more involved in America&amp;#039;s political system. With the 2008 presidential election less than two years away, our time to be politically active really is now! The first half of the conference was a full day of training for aspiring journalists and was co-sponsored by The Nation magazine. It was inspiring to hear from important journalists including Helen Thomas, Eric Schlosser, Barbara Ehrenreich and David Corn. My favorite session was &amp;quot;From Proust to Paris (Hilton): Covering Culture and the Arts,&amp;quot; where two editors from The Nation told us just how important those Paris Hilton stories really are, and how much they impact our society. The second day was the Campus Progress National Student Conference. Over a thousand high school and college students gathered to listen to speakers, attend break-out sessions and check out tables of information from groups such as  Greenpeace and the  Campus Climate Challenge. Speaking of Greenpeace, I&amp;#039;m really excited for  Live Earth this weekend. Did anyone manage to score tickets to the show on Saturday? If you did, I&amp;#039;m jealous! The highlight of my trip was definitely hearing Representative Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House, address the audience. She&amp;#039;s so cool; it&amp;#039;s hard to believe that she&amp;#039;s a grandmother!  Click here to see some great video footage from the conference. Please check out the Campus Progress website if you&amp;#039;re interested in getting involved, they have some great programs. When I wasn&amp;#039;t at the conference, my friends and I did some sightseeing. Going to the monuments and memorials at night is one of my favorite things, because they&amp;#039;re lit up and look so pretty! Also, it beats going to them during the day \u2013 summer days in Washington are very hot! My trip to Washington has definitely motivated me to make a difference at my college next year. Has anything or anyone inspired you to make changes in your community recently? Let me know what you&amp;#039;ve been up to! xoxo, Cassie Lo Editorial Intern "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/a10607/i-heart-washington/>