WHEN ML LORMEJUSTE ’25 arrived at the Washington Community Scholars’ Center (WCSC) during the fall of 2024, he admits he wasn’t there to make friends. “I was just there to do what I needed to do and move on,” recalled the public health major. As the semester progressed, Lormejuste was nudged out of his comfort zone by social outings and group activities—and found himself forming close friendships with his eight housemates and discovering the value of community. Reflecting on that semester spent in Washington, DC, he said, “I love that group… They became a part of me.” 

Lormejuste is one of more than 1,000 students whose lives have been transformed through EMU’s longest-running intercultural program, which is celebrating its 50th year of connecting students with internships, urban studies coursework, and shared community life. Launched in 1976, the program originally operated as the Washington Study-Service Year (WSSY) until 2002, when it was renamed Washington Community Scholars’ Center (WCSC) as part of a shift from a yearlong format to three shorter terms per year. 

These transitions have allowed the program to stay relevant and responsive. Program staff spent the past two years gathering input for a new name from its alumni, EMU students, and campus faculty and staff stakeholders. In April, the Provost’s Council and President’s Cabinet approved rebranding the program to the EMU Washington Semester. 

The EMU Washington Semester offers fall and spring semester terms and a 10-week summer session. It remains the only urban studies program among Anabaptist-affiliated institutions and draws students from schools across the country, including Bethel College, Bluffton University, Goshen College, and Viterbo University. 

Living, learning, and launching careers

Up to 15 students in the EMU Washington Semester share cooking responsibilities, manage a collective food budget, and work together to maintain their home at the Nelson Good House in the Brookland neighborhood of Northeast DC. Alumni over the past five decades point to their experiences in the program as a highlight of their college careers, if not their lives. 

“I never realized what a great program this was. I learned valuable lessons in adulting, from navigating a large city to living in community,” said Meredith Lehman ’25, EMU’s first Rhodes Scholar. 

Like many students, her internship paved the way to a future career opportunity. She interned at the Institute for Policy Studies this spring and returned to DC over the summer to work as a fellow at the progressive think tank. “Everyone should do this program, no matter their major,” said Lehman, who double majored in political science and biology. 

Cynthia Lapp ’86, a music education graduate and pastor at Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Maryland, has benefited from the program in multiple ways. She was a student from 1983 to 1984, later served on staff for four years, and continues to support program interns at her church. Many of those interns have gone on to become pastors themselves. 

Lapp said her internship at Elizabeth Seton High School opened the door to a teaching position after college. She added that the program is especially meaningful for students new to community living. “Surrounding ourselves with people from different cultures and backgrounds helps us see beyond the way we think and live, including how our decisions impact those around us.” 

Some students find their perfect match through the program—not just professionally, but romantically. Alumnus Micah Shristi ’00, an English major who now works as director of International Student Services at EMU, met his wife, Charlotte Gingerich Shristi, a Goshen College alumna, while in the program from 1998 to 1999. Many of his housemates from that year are among his closest friends, including Nathan Musselman ’00, who now lives next door. 

“What’s wild is that there’s another couple from our year,” he said. “Jenelle Hershey ’99 and Keith Hoover ’00 also got married after their time together in the program.” 

A ‘Good’ start 

In the fall of 1976, a scrappy academic program began immersing students in the cultured community of the nation’s capital. Nelson Good ’68, who came to DC as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, founded and directed the program until his retirement in 1987. 

The program, like the city around it, has seen plenty of changes. From the shift to three shorter terms and an accompanying name change in 2002 to a 2005 move from South Dakota Avenue to its current location on Taylor Street, the program has continued to evolve to meet the needs of its students and an ever-changing higher education landscape. 

“The new name more clearly communicates the program as a university-run academic offering, is grounded in the context of our nation’s capital, and is easy to remember and say. It also aligns with common naming conventions used by other universities’ DC-based programs, making it more recognizable regionally and beyond,” said Ryan Good, EMU Washington Semester director and son of the late Nelson Good. 

While evolving, the program has remained committed to supporting students’ personal and career development. Students consistently report leaving the program with improved professional confidence, greater clarity about career direction, more comfort in working with people who are different than they are, and increased awareness of systemic injustices, said Good. 

“Dad would be thrilled to see the ways this program has evolved over the years. Though much has changed, the bones of the program he envisioned remain the same… supporting students as they make sense of who they are in a complex world, both personally and professionally.” 

Two events will celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary: a reunion during Homecoming 2025 on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 1-3 p.m. in the Student Union, and a spring gathering at the Nelson Good House on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 10 a.m. to noon. 

For more information about the EMU Washington Semester, visit:

This story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Crossroads magazine.

There’s a new morning talk show host in town, and she’s here to celebrate.

As a special Mornings with the Mayor edition of Convocation on Wednesday, Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, director of alumni engagement and community connections at EMU, stepped into the role of host as she interviewed several trailblazing women leaders making their mark on campus. The one-of-a-kind program, held at the Student Union, celebrated Women’s History Month and paid tribute to departing EMU President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman.

Reed steered the show with her trademark candor and panache, holding court over the “live studio audience”—one student could be seen regularly holding up an “Applause” sign—while she posed fascinating questions to EMU students, staff, and alumnae. “It’s the show where we bring you big energy, great conversations, and way too much coffee,” quipped Reed.

The first guests to grace the stage were a pair of EMU students, Arelys Martinez Fabian and Meredith Lehman, and a recent alumna, Ray Ray Taylor MS ’24. Fabian, co-president of Student Government Association, highlighted the increased representation of women in campus leadership roles. Taylor, a lab instructor who was a track and field team, called for erasing negative stereotypes and for supporting women in sports. When asked about which woman in history she would share a meal with, Lehman, a Rhodes Scholar studying at Washington Community Scholars’ Center, answered that she had recently heard about Zheng Yi Sao, a pirate leader active in the South China Sea from 1801 to 1810. “She was one of the most successful pirates in a time where you don’t really hear about female pirates,” Lehman said. “I would ask her where she pulls from to gain confidence and belief in herself”

Another panel discussion featured three powerhouse administrative leaders who are “changing the game in education and beyond”: Carrie Bert, Dr. Shannon Dycus, and Dr. Tynisha Willingham. Asked to provide her younger self advice, Bert, EMU athletic director, said she would’ve told her to pause and breathe to appreciate the moment. Dycus, vice president for Student Affairs, Equity and Belonging, shared some tough conversations she had when starting in her role about fighting hard to be heard. Willingham spoke about unique challenges she’s faced as a woman provost. “I think we often still see that even when women are in leadership roles, they are expected to be nurturing and can’t be as direct,” she said.

Clad in her signature royal blue pantsuit, Huxman, the featured headliner for Reed’s morning show, bounded down the aisle and shined in the spotlight. Huxman is EMU’s ninth president, the first woman to lead in the role, and is retiring this summer after nine years of service. She joked about some unexpected lessons learned over those years. “I started with a closet that had five blue outfits,” she said. “It’s half my closet now, skirts and outfits like this, and even shoes.”

She also spoke about forming closer connections between the university and city, colloquially known as the “town and gown relationship,” during her time at EMU. Early on, she said, she had visited with elected officials, educators and business leaders who told her they had never stepped foot on EMU’s campus. “I tried to work, especially in that first year, to get folks to campus,” she said. “I brought the delegates and our elected representatives up to my office. And, again, they said, ‘Well, I’ve been an elected representative for 12, 15 years, and I’ve never been in the president’s office.’”

At a time when many colleges across the nation are shuttering their DEI programs, EMU is doubling down on its commitment to the initiatives that bolster diversity, equity and inclusion and make all students on campus feel welcome. Huxman spoke about initiatives she’s witnessed over her two terms, including the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration started by Celeste Thomas during her second year as president, the Black Lives Matter mural—the only city in Virginia with a BLM street mural, Reed said—the establishment of the Office of DEI, the start of the Lavender Graduation, and the institutional statement on land acknowledgement. “It is EMU’s time to lean into DEI,” Huxman said. “It’s wrapped into our mission, it’s wrapped into our vision and values, it’s wrapped into the Sermon on the Mount. And this is who we are as a faith-based institution.”

Asked about which woman she would share a meal with, Huxman answered Ida B. Wells, a journalist and co-founder of the NAACP. “Every time I reread her biography, I just think, how did somebody walk the earth of this magnitude?” said Huxman, regaling the crowd with tales of Wells’ accomplishments. “…I always think that, in a very real sense, the graduates from our university at EMU are well-prepared to be peace and justice advocates like Ida B. Wells.”

A special treat honoring the president was free for those attending the event. Baristas at Common Grounds Coffeehouse whipped up mugs of the “Hux Deluxe,” a vanilla latte with a little cinnamon sugar on top. “I love that it’s a latte and it has cinnamon on it,” Huxman said. “Somebody knows I like that.” 

The interviews were interspersed with video segments documenting powerful EMU alumnae who are shaping the world. These included Khadija O. Ali MA ’01, who became the first female state minister of the Somalian government and serves as an ambassador for the country, and Najla El Mangoush MA ’15, who was the first female foreign minister of Libya. Another video showcased the legacy of the late Sadie Hartzler, EMU’s first full-time librarian whose name graces the library today.

Mukarabe, a student at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding who fled genocide in Burundi in 1993, read from a poem and led the crowd in a moment of silence for women persecuted around the world. She was joined by her husband Makinto, a student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, as they performed music to cap off the event. Together, they shared “Amahoro,” a Kirundi cultural expression conveying peace and God’s blessings, through song.

Braydon Hoover, vice president for enrollment, served as sidekick/announcer for “Mornings with the Mayor.”