Well, here we are.
I and my 91 colleagues in the 144th Junior Officer Orientation Class have spent the last two days at the Harry Truman Building (aka "Main Sate") in DC, doing in-processing. Mostly it's been lectures on security and classified information, as well as some on retirement plans, health insurance, and other issues that you would expect to hear about when starting any new job. Also today we had our ID badges made, so we'll be able to get into buildings.
It's been fun to meet everyone and to soak up the atmosphere of the Department. There are displays of photographs and historic artifacts of diplomacy all over.
My only suggestion for improvement, so far, would be that they might have given us a list of each of our classmates' name, career track, hometown and photo. That would have helped with the daunting task of trying to meet 88 other people all at once, plus answering some questions that it seems kind of strange we still don't know the answers to (like our class's ratio of men to women, number of local hires, that kind of thing). I'm undecided as to whether age should also be on that list - I would definitely say yes, but I expect some people would rather not disclose their age.
From what I've been able to glean so far, we seem a diverse and very interesting group. I am greatly looking forward to getting to know everyone better!
4 comments:
Hmmm, the 144th class. Interesting number (12 X 12). When was the first class?
Warpiper there with you?
Nice posting, Geoff. What an exciting time to be joining the diplomatic corps!
Hi Judith! I'm not sure; there seem to be usually five to six classes a year, but they were having similar orientation programs even before the current numbering started.
Hi Digger! Yep, he's keeping us all in line!
Hi David! Thanks, and yes it is!
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