When she was elected president of GUSA last semester, Kelley Hampton (SFS ’05) made clear her commitment to changing the inner workings of the perpetually nebulous Student Association. But while many undergrads know Hampton as a passionate politician working for change, they might not be as familiar with her intense interest in Africa, horses and the Taj Mahal.

If your friends could describe you in one word, what word would that be?

One word, huh? I would hope that they would say empathetic. But I don’t know. I’m going to go positive and say probably, this sounds dorky, but motivated maybe?

What’s your favorite country in the world?

Gosh, this would have to be a right now question, but right now I think that my favorite country in the world is Rwanda, actually.

Favorite in that it’s interesting to me, I’m writing my thesis on Rwanda and Sierra Leone, and I think it’s made an amazing transformation from a country that was so ravaged by ethnic conflict, to one where now you have a spirit of renewal.

You’ve got these gacaca judicial systems that come from the people, you’ve got women participating in the political process, you’ve got just an amazing turnaround, and there’s still a long way to go, but it’s so interesting for me to watch that development, it’s very motivational for me.

So you could say what’s happening in Rwanda is inspiring you, somewhat?

Yeah, absolutely.

If you could be a barn animal, which one would you be and why?

I’d probably say a horse, actually, and I’d say a horse because I feel that generally speaking they are persistent about their goals.

First of all I like horses and also because I feel that they also have good longevity, which I would like to have, their sort of perseverance and that kind of a thing. Just the sort of things that I admire, the things I like to look for.

Have you studied abroad or will you study abroad?

I did study abroad. I would have liked to go again. I went after my freshman year to France for the Tours program and I had a wonderful time, I met some amazing people, and at that point my French was much better. I would’ve liked to go again.

I really want to go again to French speaking Africa because I’ve always been curious about that region. I haven’t learned much before I came to Georgetown about it, it’s been mysterious to me.

Whenever you feel hungry, where’s a nice place to eat out?

There’s so many of them. That’s one thing we’re blessed to have, so many good places to eat, or maybe not blessed because you want to pay money to go everywhere. I would say Bangkok Bistro. I love Bangkok Bistro.

Who doesn’t love it?

I always go there, but I always get the same thing which is kind of boring, the Panang Curry. Saigon Inn is also good.

If you could spend a day with any person in the world, living or dead, who would that person be, and why?

All the big names come to mind, but I guess the most interesting to me would be Mother Teresa, not only because of her ability to serve above everything else but just her patience.

That’s something I admire in people, particularly in her, and how [Mother Teresa] galvanized people together around a certain ideal. I mean how does that work? Is there a process that you follow or is it just a natural thing? Like she has a certain charisma or something that attracts people to her? Clearly, it would be the fact that she’s been able to help so many people. That’s pretty amazing.

After graduation, what do you think you’ll be doing?

I’d love to work on Capitol Hill. I’d love to work in Congress, first if I could find a Congressperson in Texas to work for but so far I haven’t quite found the one that I fit with yet.

I’d like to work on one of the committees, as a staffer for a committee, and just see how it is, because I never done that, and I always thought it was something you need to do in D.C.

I’ve done the think tank thing. I’ve done the NGO thing. It’d be cool to hit the Capitol.

What movie would you want to act in?

I’d want to act in something where you’d get to go to a lot of cool places. What was that movie where they were chasing the stone? Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s old and it had Kathleen Turner in it, they were in Cuba and Costa Rica.

It wasn’t Indiana Jones, was it?

No, no, that, or a science fiction movie, that would be pretty fun.

Do you like science fiction?

I love science fiction!

It’s your birthday. You can do anything you want to celebrate it. Where would you have it, what would you do for it and who would you invite?

I’d rent out [the] Taj Mahal. And I’d fly all my friends over. And I’d have a huge party in [the] Taj ahal.

We wouldn’t break anything. We could have a swimming pool, have water games, have a little place where you could play different games and stuff. I think it would be super fun, to go somewhere really huge and beautiful that you’d never be able to go to. I would invite everyone that I knew, even remotely. I’ve never been there, and I think it would be pretty cool.

– Interview by Fred Lestina