As 2025 college graduates begin their job search, they have many things to consider, including the modality of work they are looking for. As part of a generation that has been able to take advantage of remote school and work, will their desires meet their future employers鈥� needs?  

Across all industries, companies are making a shift toward a future modeled after the past.  

In September, Amazon announced in a memo to employees that in the new year, they will be required to return to the office outside of extenuating circumstances or pre-approved exceptions.  

In November, the Washington Post announced that all employees will be expected to be in-person full-time starting June 2, 2025.

Both companies cited the benefits of in-person collaboration, and both faced immediate backlash.  

At the federal level, President-elect Donald Trump has signaled his intentions to crack down on teleworking through his new Department of Government Efficiency, or 鈥淒OGE,鈥� which will be headed by allies Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk.  

In an by Ramaswamy and Musk published by the Wall Street Journal, the pair nodded to the 鈥渓arge-scale firings鈥� that would result from the implementation of a full in-person work requirement, writing, 鈥渋f federal employees don鈥檛 want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn鈥檛 pay for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.鈥� 

Following the creation of DOGE, the Senate organized a Senate DOGE Caucus to work in tandem with the recently formed department. Last week, the group unveiled its 60-page , obtained by Politico, which accuses bureaucrats working from home of playing 鈥渉ide-and-seek鈥� and claims that taxpayers are suffering from them 鈥減honing it in.鈥濃��

American University junior Leehy Gertner sees return-to-work policies like those proposed by the incoming administration as 鈥渄ismissive鈥� of reasons people might be choosing to work hybrid or fully remote.  

Some, like Gertner, don鈥檛 see the choice to work from home as a 鈥減rivilege鈥� or as an act of 鈥減honing it in,鈥� but instead as employees taking advantage of opportunities they otherwise wouldn鈥檛 be able to.  

鈥淚 know that hybrid work started because of COVID, but it has become so much more for so many people, especially people who have children, or who can鈥檛 afford to live in the area where their work is done,鈥� said Gertner.  

Fellow American University student Cristian Benavidez is a senior who benefits from a remote opportunity, as it allows him to build his resume while staying in school. 

Benavidez currently has a hybrid internship through the federal government鈥檚 Pathways Program, and he called his schedule 鈥渁ccommodating.鈥� 

鈥淚 see the benefits of going in and meeting people, especially as I鈥檓 trying to grow with the company and get face time with people, but as a student, that鈥檚 not realistic for me,鈥� said Benavidez.  

Benavidez plans to do another year of school in a combined graduate program, but when he thinks about his hierarchy of needs for a future career, the ability to be hybrid is one of his main three deciding factors.  

鈥淚 like the idea of hybrid work. I like the idea of being more productive,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 do like being able to go in every now and then, but I go in more to, like, socialize with the people I鈥檓 working with, and it doesn鈥檛 just feel like I鈥檓 talking to a computer all day.鈥�  

Benavidez鈥檚 high school experience was tainted by the pandemic, and he said he got tired of virtual school quickly.   

鈥淚 think the older people I work with, they didn鈥檛 get tired of it because they got to spend time with their family, but as a kid, I didn鈥檛 get to spend time with my friends,鈥� he said.  

Jennifer Halperin has been a career adviser at Columbia College Chicago for nearly 20 years and has heard similar things from her students in terms of their wants and needs.  

From the start of the pandemic to the end of 2023, Halperin observed an impatience from students when it came to roles that required some in-person work, as they had gotten comfortable with the flexibility virtual classes provided them.  

This past year, however, Halperin has seen less of that, and instead has heard an increased desire for in-person interaction.  

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if that鈥檚 sort of almost like a kickback or response to doing classes and spending a good chunk of their formative years online,鈥� Halperin said. 鈥淚鈥檓 seeing a lot more, not only willingness to work in-person or hybrid, but even students expressing that they want that.鈥�  

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) issues a survey every year to participating school career centers to be distributed to students that includes questions to identify the preferences of graduating students at four-year universities.  

Andrea Koncz, senior research manager at NACE, said that their most recent research, published in September 2024, shows that 51.3% of respondents want to work fully in-person, a 10% increase from their results in 2022.  

When asked about working a hybrid job, 42% of students indicated an interest in that modality. Koncz said the research questions did not specify how many days of in-person work were required for it to be considered hybrid nor did they touch on reasons respondents are interested in hybrid work.  

Employers, on the other hand, see the return to work as important for company culture and a way to ensure employees maintain a level of professionalism that may have been left behind during the pandemic.  

Kelsey Williams is the assistant director for employer engagement at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Over the last couple years, employers have shared with her their qualms with hybrid work and their reasoning for wanting to return to in-person.  

鈥淲e saw during COVID that a lot of folks that recently were coming into the industry, it was really hard for them to acclimate into the work environment just because nothing felt tangible,鈥� Williams said.  

In conversations with partners of the career center at UNC, employers have expressed concerns about skill gaps they鈥檝e identified in the application pools coming out of the pandemic.  

鈥淚 do see employers saying that communication is a skill that is lacking with this next generation,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of them missed out on developing some of those skills of talking to people in person.鈥�  

Jacki Banks, the associate director of employer relations and industry advising at Georgetown University, has heard similar things from employers regarding a lack of professionalism from recent graduates.    

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know how to write a professional email or show up on time,鈥� Banks said, recounting what employers have told her. 鈥淕eneral business etiquette seems to be a real challenge for a lot of the newer students.鈥�  

Ultimately, Banks said the decision to move back to in-person work also depends on industry needs. While Banks鈥� students going into finance or consulting often are going straight into in-person work, those in more entrepreneurial or tech-focused fields might have more remote opportunities available to them.  

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With the House, Senate, and presidency under Republican control starting next year, President-elect Trump is positioned to follow through on campaign promises of mass deportations, leaving many in the immigrant community fearful of what鈥檚 to come.

This week, in a on Truth Social, Trump confirmed his intentions to use the United States military in some capacity to assist in the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

鈥淚t has been pretty disheartening to hear the language that the president鈥檚 team and himself have used in the past, which dehumanizes us, myself included,鈥� said Americo Perez, son of immigrants and paralegal at the Amica Center for Human Rights.

鈥淚ndividuals and communities, such as the ones we serve, are instrumental to our, well, my personal belief of what the American system–what the American dream is,鈥� he said. 鈥淒isproportionately affecting these vulnerable communities is a great injustice.鈥�

Perez said he grew up two miles north of the Southern Border in Texas and knew from a young age that he wanted to do this kind of work. He said he’s spent his academic and professional career organizing and advocating, and now works in the Children鈥檚 Department at Amica.

The Amica Center provides legal and social services to immigrant children and adults who are detained and at risk of deportation. Perez explained that mass deportation would lead to an increase in the numbers of individuals detained, resulting in the mass incarceration of migrants.

鈥淭he immigration process, and particularly the deportation process takes time, and in that time, you do have individuals placed in detention while they await those planes, buses, or otherwise,鈥� he said.

To him, this is the scariest part.

鈥淭his is going to be something that is going to be long and heartfelt, and I hope that it is something that doesn’t continue to perpetrate the level of trauma that the communities will face.鈥�

Grassroots organizing

While ultimately fearful, groups across the country like Amica are preparing to support immigrants as they await the second Trump presidency.

Ben Jaffe is the president of KAMA DC, a volunteer-led organization that provides a platform for immigrants and refugees in the DMV area to share their stories and skills.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anybody鈥檚 feeling wonderful right now, but we took our time to, kind of, digest, and now we鈥檙e taking the time to move forward into planning items of action,鈥� he said.

Part of their preparation and planning has included surveying volunteers and members of the community about what they are comfortable with participating in and what they think would be most useful in this new contextual environment.

Using responses from the surveys, KAMA DC has started to brainstorm ways to support individuals and their families. Ideas Jaffe shared included circulating resource documents, working with human rights lawyers, and putting on classes for those who may have just arrived that are taught by people who immigrated years ago.

鈥淚f the policies that have been mentioned come into effect, as I think we unfortunately expect it to, the DMV community as a whole is, I think, very strong and very ready to help support our neighbors and friends and everybody who needs it,鈥� said Jaffe.

Cross-generational threats

During his first term, Trump embraced a 鈥渮ero-tolerance鈥� policy that ultimately led an estimate of over 5,000 families being separated, sparking national backlash.

Tom Homan, former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, was a staunch advocate for the policy during Trump鈥檚 first term. He will be joining the president-elect in the incoming administration to continue his work on border control and has not ruled out the reinstatement of zero-tolerance.

For some, these announcements from the incoming administration serve as signals and have prompted fears of family separation to creep back in.

Allison Wallen, who works in the Center of Diversity and Inclusion at American University (CDI), has met since the election with a number of students who are the children of immigrants or immigrants themselves.

Since the CDI and the wider university are still working on how to respond and best show up for their students, Wallen鈥檚 role in the weeks since the results were called has been to console students who come to her asking if she thinks they will be okay.

鈥淚t’s just that level of, like, you know, you always had a sense of protection, and now it’s like, wait a minute, I don’t really have that anymore,鈥� said Wallen. 鈥淚 think that’s the best way to describe it.鈥�

Similar to KAMA DC, the university is working to take the temperature of its students and is trying to design systems that support the community in the ways they need. Right now, Wallen is doing what she can to support the individuals that come to her, and she anticipates a wider university response and support system once the policies begin to be implemented.

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鈥淚 heard what sounded like pops; I thought it was a tire,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I guess in this country, we can assume that it鈥檚 probably a gunshot.鈥�

On Thursday, Nov. 7th, two men were shot on the corner of M and First streets NE. According to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), both were taken to the hospital and are expected to survive.

Following the shooting, tenants of the two apartment buildings on the block, The Iris and 2M Street Apartments, were told they couldn鈥檛 cross the police tape to access the entrance to their building. They were instead sent around the block to use another entrance.

Those renters who were forced to detour were outwardly frustrated and began to yell at the officers, questioning how yet another shooting could鈥檝e happened despite a police car being parked on the street all day, every day.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to have a police presence and over-police a community, and people are still getting shot right in front of the police, then the police aren鈥檛 the answer to the problem,鈥� said Lucas.

According to gun violence mapping done by the , the number of shootings that have occurred on Lucas’ block increased between 2020-2023 when compared to 2016-2019.

In addition, the number of residents who lived near at least one fatal shooting increased by 17% during that same time frame.

Lulu, who didn’t share her last name because of rules set forth by her employer, lives a few blocks away near the Mt. Vernon Triangle neighborhood. Her neighborhood has similar statistics to Lucas鈥� in terms of gun homicides.

鈥淚 mean, just last night, we heard automatic guns just going off back and forth,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was like some kind of war going on outside.鈥�

While the District tries to find a solution to the issues, Lulu said the current strategy of increased police presence hasn鈥檛 worked, leaving her frustrated.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of cops stationed on a lot of corners and shit still happens,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or example, on O Street, there鈥檚 always shootings, there鈥檚 always robberies, and there鈥檚 always a cop car sitting there.鈥�

Pointing fingers

Another woman in her early 30s has lived in the NoMa neighborhood for four years, bearing witness to the spikes in crime and other shifts in the area. She agreed to speak to 最新蜜桃影像 on the condition of anonymity due to press policies at her job.

Over those four years, new luxury buildings have been popping up on seemingly every corner. She shared that much of the construction over the last two years has happened on streets perpendicular to North Capitol Street, like M Street NE, where the shooting occurred.

鈥淚t is displacing people,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow, people that used to spend time on the street in those areas aren鈥檛 necessarily welcome there, whether it鈥檚 for the construction or because of the new residents.鈥�

Lulu agreed that the uptick in violence could be related to gentrification, citing the jarring juxtaposition of communities that have lived in the area for years being forced to share the space with newcomers.

鈥淎 lot of people are having issues, like, adapting to that,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome of the new buildings go for [$3,200 to $3,800] right across the street from like, rent controlled apartments where people have been there for years and stuff like that, so it is an even mix between, like, townies and newbies.”

Lucas, on the other hand, while acknowledging the role gentrification plays in igniting community anger, blamed the accessibility of guns.

鈥淚 think blaming the community is probably not the way to go,鈥� he said. 鈥淪hootings are happening everywhere, no matter where in the city you live or are.鈥�

District issues public safety grants

In late October, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice (DMPSJ) announced 12 community organizations that will receive $2.1 million in grant funding through the Fiscal Year 25 Safe Commercial Corridors Grant Program.

This is the second round of funding announcements, which, according to a DMPSJ , 鈥渋s designed to promote public safety and public health through evidence-based activities for residents, workers, and visitors.鈥�

Lulu鈥檚 neighborhood of Mt. Vernon Triangle and Lucas鈥� of NoMa are two areas of the District that have organizations receiving grants in this year鈥檚 allocations. Funding from the grants can be used for a few different purposes, including to hire personnel and increase security presence in corridors.

Isaiah Cromer, spokesperson for the DMPSJ, said in an email that 鈥渉ighlights of the FY24 Safe Commercial Corridors grant include the installation of approximately 90 security cameras in commercial corridors across the District and safety ambassadors working a total of nearly 15,000 hours from March 1 through Sept. 30, 2024.鈥�

He added that the District鈥檚 whole-of-government approach has led to an overall reduction in crime across the city.

The NoMa Business Improvement District (NoMa BID) is one of the organizations receiving $2.1 million, and according to Cromer, it plans to use it to install security cameras and necessary equipment as opposed to hiring personnel.

The NoMa BID did not respond to a request for comment.

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In what is shaping up to be an election decided on the margins, winning North Carolina鈥檚 16 electoral college votes would be a major boost for either candidate in the race to 270. With 132 institutions of higher learning in the state, the election could very well be decided on college campuses. 

Caleb Pembele, junior at Wake Forest University, moved to the south for college from the midwest. His hometown of Normal, Ill., doesn鈥檛 tend to attract much foot traffic on behalf of campaigns, as the state has voted for a Democrat in the presidential election for the last 20 years. 

This year, however, as president of Wake Forest University Democrats, he has had the opportunity to meet almost all of the key candidates on the Democratic ticket with the exception of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he has seen at rallies across the state. 

Carolina in My Mind

Both campaigns are focused on North Carolina as one of the seven swing states that could decide the election, which is why in the final weekend before the election, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, as well as their running mates, are making multiple stops across the Tar Heel State. 

This past week, Vice Presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz spoke at a rally in Asheville, N.C. and hosted events in Greensboro and Charlotte, while Harris made a stop in Raleigh. On Saturday, Nov. 2, Trump will be in Gastonia and Greensboro, while Harris will close out her day in Charlotte. 

On Sunday, Trump will be in Kinston and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, will be in Raleigh with the former president鈥檚 son, Donald Trump Jr. Trump will then head to the state capital himself on Monday for one last push before Election Day. 

The closeness of the race doesn鈥檛 just lead to a constant influx of candidates and their surrogates into the state, creating an environment students coming from blue or red states may not be used to. It also provides them with the opportunity to cast a ballot in a state that may feel more impactful, seeing as the results could come down to a couple of thousand votes. 

Battleground Living

As outlined on the North Carolina State Board of Elections , college and university students are permitted to register and vote in the county they live in while attending school unless they intend to return to their former home after graduation. 

At public universities like the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a large portion of the student body is from North Carolina, but at private institutions such as Wake Forest University or Duke University, many of their students hail from out-of-state. 

For example, while 81% of the newest undergraduate class at this year is from North Carolina, at and that percentage drops drastically to 15%, according to the schools鈥� websites. 

Many students that move to North Carolina for college are like Pembele, and come from home states that are pretty predictable in terms of the way they will vote in the presidential elections. Since North Carolina election laws allow them to vote in the county they attend school, many choose to switch their registration to a state where they feel their vote will matter more. 

Duke senior Frances Bayston, originally from Massachusetts, changed her registration to vote in North Carolina this year, a choice that for her, was simple.

鈥淚t was kind of a no-brainer for me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 knew that my vote at home just kind of, like, supports the majority, but I don鈥檛 think it changes as much as voting here in, like, a swing state where it makes a much larger difference.鈥� 

Fellow senior Heather Raslan is originally from the suburbs of Chicago. Her choice to change her registration was not as simple. 

鈥淕iven that it鈥檚 a presidential election year, I decided to switch my registration, but it wasn鈥檛 necessarily a 100% solid decision, like, easily made,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you do care about the small elections and state government, and you鈥檝e grown up somewhere and you know the issues your city has faced, you kind of are plugged into other important parts of the ballot.鈥� 

Ultimately, she decided to vote in North Carolina because of how high she felt the stakes were at the presidential level. 

鈥淧art of it may be psychological, but, you know, with Illinois always going blue, I felt like, well, I can vote there and my vote probably won’t change what happens in the election, and maybe my vote won’t change what happens in the election in North Carolina either, but it’s just, it just feels more meaningful to vote in North Carolina,鈥� she said. 

Finding herself in a new city, Raslan said she did her research on the other positions she would be voting for down ballot. Bayston said she worries that although other voters should take the time to do their research like Ralsan, many won鈥檛. 

鈥淚 know a lot of people, honestly, who switch registration and will go in and because they鈥檙e not informed enough about the votes here, just won鈥檛 fill out those questions,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think it does yourself a disservice almost to not at least try to learn more about the community you鈥檙e surrounded by.鈥� 

Efforts on the Ground

Leaders of political groups on campuses across the state, like Pembele, have tried to combat this issue by exposing the members of their groups to as many candidates as possible through voter education efforts.

鈥淰oting all the way down-ballot is something that I think Democrats struggle with more than Republicans, and when I ask people, the main thing they say is, 鈥榦h, I don鈥檛 know who they are, so I鈥檓 not going to vote for them,鈥欌�� Pembele said. 鈥淣ow you have no excuse, because I brought them.鈥� 

A couple of hours away at UNC, Matthew Trott, president of their Young College Republicans group, has also made it a priority to bring out candidates ahead of the election and educate voters.  

鈥淭he aspect of our Get Out The Vote initiative that I鈥檓 most proud of was our candidate series, where we had six of our ten Council of State candidates come and speak to us,鈥� said Trott. 鈥淎dditionally, we鈥檝e been out tabling in the middle of the campus in the pit several times each week for the last at least three weeks and intermittently before that, just handing out Republican literature.鈥� 

Early voting in North Carolina ended on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., so the next opportunity for students to vote will be on Election Day. 

North Carolina is one of 12 states that close the polls before 8:00 p.m., meaning the results will be some of the first to come in.

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While many air their grievances on the internet or march in the streets in protest, artists such as Ramsey have turned to art as an outlet to not only process, but to express their feelings about living in modern day America.

Many of these emotions were on display at an open house over the weekend, just down the street from the U.S. Capitol.

Ramsey is one of over 50 artists that rent spaces in the in the NoMa neighborhood.

The four-story building was converted into studios in 1978 to address the shortage of affordable spaces for Washington-based artists. This past Saturday, the building welcomed the community into the space for an open house event.

Ramsey greeted eventgoers in a custom t-shirt featuring one of his D.C. Rats. This rat wears a D.C. flag shirt, holding a sign that says 鈥淰OTE,鈥� in one hand and carrying a jumbo slice of pizza in the other. Other iterations of the rat were strewn about in sticker form on the table in front of him.

Ramsey鈥檚 upcoming exhibition focuses on life in D.C., telling stories through the lens of the D.C. Rat.

鈥淚t talks a little bit about gentrification and survivability and opinions of people from the outside looking in,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese things are life forms, and they鈥檙e just trying to live and survive, and that kind of is a stand in for certain dispossessed or disenfranchised people in the city.鈥�

Ramsey said he uses his cartoonish, poppy, and surrealist imagery to draw people into the art, which depicts his experiences as a Black man in America. Whether they have been positive or negative, the pieces show his reactions to changes in the world around him over the last couple of decades.

Down the hall, artist and organizer hosts glass-making classes in a studio covered in glass cranes. While folding an origami paper crane, Julianna told the story of her close friend Ian, a trans person who passed away in 2016.

Julianna explained that in the Shinto tradition, whenever someone folds a thousand cranes, that person is granted a wish. When she found out Ian was getting married, she planned to make a thousand cranes for the wedding to grantthem a wish. But after Ian passed away, her goal changed.

鈥淚nstead of stopping at a thousand, I fold towards infinity because I see it as aTrojan horse to talk to folks about trans inclusion,鈥� Julianna said. She now hosts 鈥渇old-ins,鈥� where people come together to make paper cranes and learn about the trans experience.

For her, art is not only a way to bring people in and create a shared safe space, but a means by which she can share thestories of others and spread awareness around causes she feels strongly about.

Artist has occupied a studio at 52 O St. for five years, using paper and pencil as his preferred medium to tell deep, psychological stories that show internal selves responding to the outside world.

His exhibition currently on display is titled 鈥淯nrest,鈥� and it investigates how humans respond to trauma, internal unrest, and discontent.

鈥淚 like the work to show the protagonist or the hero of the story, the narrator of the story, feeling his internal emotions and experiencing the external,鈥� Berg said. 鈥淎 lot of art these days is decorative, and it鈥檚 just not me. I can鈥檛 imagine doing art that wasn鈥檛 a reaction to the outside world.鈥�

Ramsey鈥檚 exhibition launches on Nov. 2, opening to the public just three days before the 2024 presidential election.

Berg鈥檚 鈥淯nrest鈥� is on display now at 52 O St., and Julianna鈥檚 classes are available for sign-up through her Instagram .

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