By: Anaya Miller
Due to the government shutdown beginning on Oct. 1, the School of Social Work’s Social Welfare Issues and Policy (SWIP) class will not be going on its planned trip to Washington, D.C. Had the trip not been cancelled, 10 seniors would have made the journey on Oct. 8.
The Friday before the trip, Kristie Wilder, a professor in the School of Social Work, monitored the government shutdown for news that would affect the class trip. She received an email confirming the cancellation on Monday, Oct. 6.
Wilder explained that the yearly trip involves students meeting lobbyists from the Council of Social Work Education firm. The lobbyists typically provided feedback to the students for their class assignments.
After meeting with the lobbyists, the students would meet with members of Congress according to their state of residence and home district. At the meetings, the students would discuss the policies they had tracked throughout the semester with their representatives.
“That’s the major objective of the trip,” Wilder said during a phone interview. “To demystify this experience of advocating with our lawmakers…. We had about six different policies this year. They get to see why policy is so important to social work and the people we serve. And that the system is not intimidating to approach.”
After visiting Congress, the students would take a tour of the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. If there were hearings at court, the class would sit in. At the library, the students would get their own library cards and conduct research for their class. On previous trips, the class also visited the ADRA office to hear about how policies impact their work and the church. The students visit monuments and memorials in Washington as well.
“It’s a very special trip,” Wilder said. “I was very sad for this group to miss out.”
Students were also upset that the trip was cancelled. Caeli Hensel and Elsie Kroll, senior social work majors, both spoke about their disappointment.
“The SWIP trip to Washington, D.C. is an experience I have looked forward to since my freshman year, after hearing about it from the social work seniors of 2023,” Hensel said. “I planned to advocate for H.R. 4769, the Foster Youth Mentoring Act of 2025, which would provide funding to support mentorship programs for foster youth.”
Kroll had also been looking forward to the trip.
“With this being my senior year, I was really looking forward to a trip with all of my classmates, to have time outside of class to bond,” she stated. “In the class, we have been preparing to talk with representatives about a bill that is in Congress right now. Because of the government shutdown, they are no longer in D.C.”
Wilder explained that the shutdown had also affected the Smithsonian system, which would have prevented the students from touring the museum. All tours of the Capitol had been canceled, and the Supreme Court was closed. The class meeting with Tennessee’s representative Charles Fleischmann was also canceled.
“There was no way to make it a productive trip,” Wilder said.
When asked why the trip was so important to the social work students, Wilder explained that it’s easy to think of direct practice when it comes to social work, but it can be challenging for students to connect policies to people’s lives and mental health.
“When they take this out of the classroom and get to do experiential learning, it sticks with them,” Wilder said. “I’ve been doing this for fourteen years, and I still hear from students that this was the time that all the dots connected for them.”
Hensel commented on another benefit of the trip.
“The trip offers the senior social work class a valuable opportunity to spend time together outside of the classroom and build meaningful friendships,” Hensel stated. “This is especially important during senior year, when there are many group projects and shared challenges, allowing us to relate to one another and provide mutual support as we navigate the year together.”
Wilder emphasized the impact of in-person experiences.
“Sometimes there’s knowledge that can only be understood when experienced,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important. When policy feels stale or like something that doesn’t impact us, they get to go and experience that it does. The elected officials listen; we’ve had some great experiences. Staffers are so grateful for the data and information that the students provide them to help inform [them] how their boss should vote on a bill. It’s very cool.”
Wilder highlighted that students may have realized the proximity of the effects of the government shutdown.
“I think people see the government shutdown as something we’re removed from and maybe doesn’t have immediate impact,” she said. “But it has real impact, and this is a great example of how it impacted some Southern students directly.”
Hensel shared her perspective on the impact of the government shutdown.
“A government shutdown is not productive for anyone in any way, and the impact goes beyond canceling the SWIP trip,” Hensel stated. “While that was unfortunate for my class, there are individuals and communities that are currently or soon will experience the loss of funds for vital programming. Alaska just experienced the tail end of a typhoon, causing severe flooding and damage to many of the communities in western Alaska. With the government shutdown, federal funds cannot help them. Families who depend on federal funds for food stamps, housing vouchers, or any other resources will soon lose access to those, as funds are actively running out without a new budget being passed in Congress.”
“It is difficult to be so directly affected by something you can’t do anything about,” Kroll said.
