Students involved in Stanford’s Summer in Washington Program, hosted by Stanford in Government, or SIG, have packed their calendars with political events.

Rising senior Shirin Sharif, this year’s education program coordinator for the Summer in Washington program, has organized several events headlined by local big names. Program attendees have heard from the likes of Congressmen F. James Sensenbrenner, Jim Kolbe and Congresswoman Judy Biggert, as well as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget Josh Bolten.

Another event at the White House Executive Office Building with the National Economic Council Deputy Director Keith Hennessey, drew a considerably larger crowd because of the prestige of the location and its speaker. White House Chief of Staff Andy Card surprised students when he stumbled upon the group as they waited for Hennessey. He casually proceeded to discuss public policy, demonstrating that running into major figures like Card is just one of the perks of living at the hub of government and politics.

The Summer in Washington Program, arranges educational, cultural and social activities for a network of over 190 students and alums staying in the D.C. area.

The program operates out of the Bass Center, Stanford’s house in D.C. which has become a central meeting place for social gatherings and speaker events. Twenty-eight students currently live at the Stanford house, mostly SIG fellows and past Stanford in Washington program participants. These students are a small part of the larger Summer in Washington network, which uses an e-mail list and online calendar to allow Stanford students and graduates to keep in touch and stay updated with one another.

Sharif spent last summer in D.C. as a SIG fellow and studied there in the fall. Now familiar with the area, she plans weekly events and schedules speakers to present at the Stanford house. She also coordinates sightseeing trips and weekly happy hours.

Less formal activities, such as museum visits, nighttime concerts and the occasional house party also keep students entertained while staying in the nation’s capital. The online calendar informs students in the area of free events such as the Jazz concert held at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden or the tour of the National Air and Space Museum led by a Stanford graduate.

According to Sharif, the Summer in Washington program is not unique to Stanford. Most major universities have a similar program, allowing individual program coordinators to collaborate.

“Another part of the program is students meeting other students from various schools, like Yale, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Rutgers and Michigan,” Sharif said. “We’ve had joint happy hours, ice cream socials, 4th of July events, etc.”