A Wonderful Hodgepodge
By Caroline Hart
We are just at the beginning of this Capital Fellows year and it has already felt so full! At the Kickoff Retreat we listened to twenty-minute testimonies of over twenty years of life to introduce ourselves; we went on a scavenger hunt to get acquainted with the city; we moved into new rooms with radically hospitable host families; we started 9-5 jobs for the first time; we began serving in our ministry placements and at Cornerstone School; and we attended McLean Pres and Capital Pres Fairfax all together.
Our time together has felt like an elaborate jumble of questions and joys. It has spanned from conversations about being a living sacrifice and students of life, to silly games and workplace meet-ups. Our group has energy and sincerity, question-askers and adventurers, dancers and artists. We’re a hodgepodge group of perfect strangers loving each other, and the English major in me thinks there is something poetic about that.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these weeks have come with their own challenges of settling into a new routine and season of life, feeling vulnerability fatigue, and answering angry constituent calls (for those working on Capitol Hill). Still, I keep reminding myself it takes time to settle in, learn the ropes of a new job, and actually build trust and memories with new friends. But how exciting that we have eight months ahead of us.
I keep coming back to the late Wendell Berry’s poem, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.” I find that his language captures this program’s radical way of doing life together in a society, or more specifically a city, that is vying for our attention and time.
I’m hopeful that I, alongside my wonderful hodgepodge cohort, will live and seek, as Wendell Berry writes, to “Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who doesn’t deserve it…ask the questions that have no answer…invest in the millennium…laugh…be joyful though you have considered all the facts…be like the fox who makes more tracks the necessary some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.”
This is my prayer and hope for this counter-cultural, potentially poetic year.
Caroline Hart is a member of the Capital Fellows class of 2026-27. She is from Indianapolis, IN, and is a graduate of the Wheaton College. This year, she is working at the U.S. House of Representatives.
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If you know a college senior or recent graduate who should consider joining the Capital Fellows program in 2027-28, please encourage them to get in touch with us. The easiest way to express interest in the program is through our Contact Us Form. You can learn more about the program, including application deadlines, by visiting the Capital Fellows website.
About Capital Fellows. Capital Fellows is an advanced leadership and discipleship program for recent college graduates. Through graduate courses, a paid internship, one-on-one mentoring, and many leadership and community service opportunities, fellows develop and apply their gifts in real-world situations while learning to integrate a Christian worldview into all areas of life. Capital Fellows is a unique opportunity to live and work in the Washington DC area and to be an active member of a supportive community that seeks to serve the city with the love of Christ. It is also a unique opportunity to get hands-on experience in the workplace while deeply exploring God’s design for us as workers and contributors to human flourishing.
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Earlier this week, the Fellows began serving at one of our church's mission partners: Cornerstone Schools of Washington, D.C. Each week this year, they will invest in the lives of students by tutoring them in core subjects like math and writing, as well as assisting with the after-school program. Please join us in praying for our Fellows to serve—not only the students and teachers there but also—the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2).
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Capital Fellows is part of a network of similar programs across the country. This network is called The Fellows Initiative. There are 34 Fellows programs in TFI, roughly 3,200 alumni living around the world, and more Fellows programs on the way.
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