What he discovered in those 10 weeks as an intern surprised him 鈥� and prepared him make the commitment to begin his career in Washington D.C.

鈥淚 finished the WCSC program on Friday and started my new job on Monday,鈥� Quenzer said, shortly after an evening commute to his newly rented apartment in the Northwest neighborhood of Petworth. 鈥淚 thought WCSC would be a great experience of living in a big city for two and a half months. I couldn鈥檛 imagine doing it for a long period of time, and I was never expecting to stay.鈥�

Now director of technology at , Quenzer manages the outsourced development of the D.C.-based start-up company, which offers personalized online programs that teach consumers how to improve their financial situation.

In an odd twist, Quenzer鈥檚 new job isn鈥檛 a result of his summer internship with , working on the Christian publication鈥檚 website. Instead it was the result of networking opportunities provided by WCSC alumnus Joel Murray 鈥�14 and the program鈥檚 former associate director, Sheldon C. Good.

WCSC internships regularly lead to offers of full-time employment, according to program director .

This was the case for Murray, a business administration major who had interned the previous semester with FELA. After graduating in May, Murray accepted full-time employment with the company. He then contacted Quenzer about doing freelance web design and consulting.

鈥淚 came in several times throughout the summer and got to know the company better,鈥� Quenzer said. 鈥淎nd it turned out they needed someone with my skills.鈥�

Quenzer had some real concerns, however. 鈥淣inety percent of start-ups fail, so there was a real risk for me to take out an annual lease on an apartment in Washington D.C. without some assurance of financial stability,鈥� he said.

Discussions with Good, who was a friend of the company鈥檚 founder, allayed his concerns.

鈥淭hat was really helpful,鈥� Quenzer said. “The connections I had through WCSC, and the networking opportunities, really helped me make that decision and feel it was a good one.鈥�

Quenzer also feels more comfortable in Washington D.C. than he ever imagined, thanks to the immersive, cross-cultural experience of living in WCSC鈥檚 intentional community as an independent, working adult.

鈥淥rganizing house jobs, sharing money to buy food, learning how to get along with people from different backgrounds 鈥� all of that was a really valuable experience,鈥� Quenzer said. 鈥淪ome have lived in a city before and some haven鈥檛, and everyone is in a different place in their lives and you have to exist together. You get the total experience of working full-time, taking public transportation, enjoying what the city has to offer. It really gave me an idea of what it would be like.鈥�

“We are proud of Stephen鈥檚 accomplishments,鈥� Schmidt said. 鈥淗e will join many former students who, through the WCSC, have come to the city, found good work, and are now making valuable contributions to our local neighborhoods.鈥�

Shoulder鈥搕o-Shoulder,聽a Washington D.C.-based interfaith coalition that works to end anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, has its work cut out for it. Political campaigns throughout the 2012 election season made use of xenophobic language, and vandalism of mosques made headlines repeatedly over the past year, including an incident at a mosque a few miles from 黑料正能量.

As an intern with the organization, Bekah Enns 鈥�13 has put to work her experience as a co-editor of The Weather Vane, 黑料正能量鈥檚 student newspaper, by producing a bi-weekly newsletter, compiling fact sheets, and otherwise pitching in on the group鈥檚 various initiatives and campaigns.

One of Shoulder-to-Shoulder鈥檚 priorities is trying to replace the commonly used label 鈥淢uslim American鈥� with 鈥淎merican Muslim鈥� 鈥� a term consciously chosen to emphasize to the 鈥淎merican-ness鈥� that unites people of all faiths who live in the United States. While it seems a worthwhile project to Enns, she鈥檚 also well aware of how this appeal to secular, American values is somewhat at odds with the Mennonite tradition of emphasizing primary allegiance to God rather than country.

And so, Enns鈥� internship through 黑料正能量鈥檚 , or WCSC, has become something more than just a taste of real-world work and an opportunity to develop contacts, ideas and credentials for life after college. It鈥檚 also a launching point for deeper examination of the relationship between faith, values and career.

鈥淗ow do we as Mennonites engage the state, and how much do we build our alternative systems?鈥� asks Enns, a history major with minors in political science, pre-law and peacebuilding and development.

What relationship, exactly, should a person of faith hold toward advocacy in a secular environment, she wonders? Doesn鈥檛 a faith like hers, one that prescribes action on behalf of the least among us, require this sort of entanglement with the wider world? But does this very entanglement with the wider world undermine the foundations of her faith?

Sitting at the kitchen table in the WCSC house, Enns 鈥� approaching the end of her semester in Washington 鈥撀爃asn鈥檛 hit on any answers to her questions yet. At the same time, she knows she would like to continue doing faith-based advocacy work after she graduates.

鈥淲ashington is often viewed as the quintessential 鈥楥ity on a Hill鈥� because of the power that exists here,鈥� says Sheldon C. Good, WCSC assistant director. 鈥淎nd yet, Jesus professed an upside-down kingdom that turned power on its head, and that鈥檚 what students have to grapple with.鈥�

Questions like those raised by Enns lie at the heart of the Washington Community Scholars鈥� Center experience, says Kimberly Schmidt, the program鈥檚 director since 1999. While most internship programs in Washington D.C. focus on career-building, WCSC pushes students to think more broadly about vocation, where one鈥檚 work and one鈥檚 values align. Another key feature of the WCSC internship programs is its emphasis on serving other people rather than just one鈥檚 own interests.

鈥淎 lot of people come to D.C. and they just want to pad their r茅sum茅s and network,鈥� says Schmidt, who takes satisfaction in seeing students struggle with deeper questions during their WCSC experience. 鈥淏ut we really want our students to come in with an attitude of service.鈥�

This concept of 鈥渟ervant-leadership鈥� has been a part of the WCSC program since its inception in 1976 and remains very much at the center of its focus.

At the same time, that doesn鈥檛 mean that student internships remain limited to ones like Shoulder-to-Shoulder, with an overt mission of service or advocacy.

Instead, Schmidt and Good place students in a wide variety of internships that match career interests, and then work with them to 鈥渋magine themselves as servant-leaders in that particular sector.鈥�

The academic component of the WCSC program places great emphasis on the differences, diversity and contradictions encountered by students during their semester in the city. A student鈥檚 day could begin in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country and could end at the Kennedy Center, a few miles away and several worlds apart. Schmidt and former associate director Doug Hertzler 鈥�88 (after more than a decade with the program, he took a new job in the late fall of 2012) intentionally expose students to these different realities 鈥� 鈥減olarities and disparities,鈥� as Schmidt refers to them 鈥� during the seminars on urban history, anthropology and life that the directors lead each semester.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what 鈥榞entrification鈥� meant before coming here this semester,鈥� says Christine Baer 鈥�14, calling her class in urban anthropology one of the highlights of her WCSC experience.

Through a variety of field trips, guest speakers and readings, she and her classmates studied the dynamics of race, class and politics at work in the rapidly changing city. (Since WCSC was established in the 鈥�70s, for example, the African-American share of the city鈥檚 population has fallen from 70 percent to 50 percent.)

Like many in the WCSC program, Baer finds city life exhilarating. After graduation, she plans to look for work in the human services field in a large city, with D.C. high on her list.

The endless opportunity for new experiences, encounters and entertainment, the public transportation that zips you around, the crowds, everything seemingly at her fingertips 鈥� all of these are also a highlight of the experience for Taylor Swantz 鈥�13.

鈥淚 love the city,鈥� says Swantz, who grew up in rural Iowa and has an internship with a psychologist at a therapy center in College Park, Maryland.

Good points out that it鈥檚 simply fun to live in one of the world鈥檚 most important cities.

鈥淪tudents have plenty of opportunities to experience city life and build community together,鈥� he says.

(The night before Crossroads鈥� visit to the WCSC program, several students were out late, taking in the spectacle of President Barack Obama鈥檚 re-election outside the White House and along U Street, where celebration erupted after the result was announced.)

But even when there are great times to be had and great questions to ponder, there are still groceries to buy and bathrooms to clean, and here again, WCSC students are thrust into the real (and banal) world, where there is no cafeteria or custodial staff to lean on.

Because she is one of the few students with a car in the city, Baer became one of the grocery shoppers, making regular trips to Aldis for the deals and Giant for everything else, plus a few agreed-upon luxuries, like caramel macchiato-flavored coffee creamer. She and her classmates also have organized weekly meetings and set up cooking and cleaning rotations to keep the house in order 鈥� tasks that the WCSC staffers leave up to the students to figure out.

鈥淚 feel more adult here,鈥� says Kiersten Rossetto 鈥�13, mentioning the greater freedoms and greater responsibilities given students in WCSC compared to life on campus in Harrisonburg.

While Schmidt and the rest of the WCSC staff emphasize the way the program develops students beyond simple career enhancement, job opportunities frequently do present themselves through the internships in D.C. During some semesters, 90 percent of the students have received job offers through, or directly because of, their internship placements, Schmidt says.

And even when the internship doesn鈥檛 culminate in a full-fledged job, the experience at the very least lets students give the urban vocation a full-dress rehearsal.

Baer, interning with Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, has both enjoyed her work 颅assisting the organization in its campaign to abolish the death penalty in Maryland, and figured out that working on a policy level 颅鈥� emailing, letter-writing, bending legislators鈥� ears 鈥� is a little too impersonal for her tastes.

鈥淚t is really valuable work, but I think I get my energy elsewhere,鈥� says Baer, who has figured out over the course of the semester that she prefers service and advocacy work that involves more direct contact with constituents.

Rossetto, an intern with the immigrant advocacy group Casa de Maryland, feels very much drawn to that field, which she also studied from a very different angle as a student on 黑料正能量鈥檚 Guatemala and U.S.-Mexico border cross-cultural. Now considering work with the Peace Corps or Mennonite Central Committee, though, Rossetto isn鈥檛 yet exactly sure where or how her skills and values frame a vocational calling.

鈥淚 really like nonprofit work and organizing, but I鈥檓 still on that journey,鈥� Rossetto says. 鈥淚鈥檓 still figuring it out.鈥� 鈥� Andrew Jenner ’04

It鈥檚 been a whirlwind of holy adventures and surprising engagements. While these aren鈥檛 everyday classroom contexts, I found Mennonite education at its best in some of its most missional聽practices.

At the , students live together for a semester or two while engaging the city. They gather on Wednesday nights to discuss vocation, the city and service led by associate program director (and former MWR assistant editor) . I prepared a conversation as a guest lecturer about career and聽calling.

I wasn鈥檛 prepared for what emerged around the ping-pong table. Students talked about the messy situations that offered a glimpse of their own vocational聽call.

I wasn鈥檛 prepared for the diversity of experiences. They grew up in places like Pennsylvania鈥檚 Big Valley, big American cities and Asian countries. They were documented and undocumented; black, white, Latino, Asian; many the first college students in their families. They wept when talking about glimpsing their calls. They lamented. They聽dreamed.

They wondered how their own identities would shape their future. They celebrate their parents鈥� gifts and struggle with family dysfunction. They were at 黑料正能量 for different reasons, in D.C. for different purposes, but the institution had created space for them, hopefully to flourish as they stumble toward vocation, career, calling and聽conversation.

My next assignment was helping to lead a continuing education event with (SMC), a collaborative arrangement between SMC, , 黑料正能量 and . There were 70 students set to engage on issues of leadership in Christian聽communities.

I was team teaching with Franconia colleagues Angela Moyer and Ertell Whigham. All three of us are from urban Mennonite congregations where Spanish is part of the regular worship experience. In our initial conversations, Floridian leaders wanted to make sure we understood our differences in context. We had more in common than we expected, despite the distance between Sarasota and Pennsylvania. What it means to be Mennonite leaders in both places has changed and is聽changing.

This group of SMC leaders incarnated the future and present church. There were only four Euro-American leaders. The conversation switched quickly between Spanish and English. We sang a cappella from Mennonite hymnbooks and fluently in Spanish with words projected on the wall. We were from far-flung places 鈥� Chicago, Michigan, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Mexico, Haiti 鈥� all now worshiping in congregations that make up .

This week a group of students is here in Philadelphia for spring break. As part of helping orient them to the city, I agreed to go along with a dozen students for dinner at one of the four sushi restaurants owned by members of my own Mennonite church, .

The group鈥檚 leaders are an Indonesian nursing student from my congregation and a young woman who grew up somewhere between India, Virginia and Thailand. These students weren鈥檛 who I had聽expected.

Everyone was bicultural. While the majority were Latino, the other three grew up outside the U.S. Conversations moved around the table in English, Spanish, Thai and Indonesian while we ate sushi together. I felt both challenged and聽hopeful.

While these are 黑料正能量-rooted stories, changes are happening at every Mennonite higher education institution. There鈥檚 an invitation in these changes to come closer to the contexts of Mennonite congregations and learn about new聽realities.

On our campuses, we have new opportunities to be hospitable Anabaptists teaching bright and challenging students who reflect our demographic changes. While the time is difficult to navigate, our opportunities 鈥� if we are open to being transformed too 鈥� may draw closer to God鈥檚 dream for all of聽us.

[Editor’s Note: This article appeared in MennoWorld Review, March 18, 2013 issue. Stephen Kriss ’94, is associate director of pastoral studies at 黑料正能量 Lancaster and director of communication and leadership cultivation at Franconia Mennonite Conference. He is a teacher, writer, pastor, student and follower of Jesus living in聽Philadelphia.]