Nearly 34 years after graduating from Blair, adjunct government professor and veteran political professional Carrie Giddins Pergram ’92 is returning to the hilltop for a full-circle moment. On Tuesday, she will step onto the stage for a program she once sat in as a curious student, sharing her insights on the complexities of the modern political landscape.

“I try to remember what it was like when I sat in on Skeptics,” Ms. Giddins Pergram shared in a pre-event interview. “Listening to professionals I didn’t think I’d find relatable (in terms of what I thought I’d do) actually opened my mind to things I didn’t know about.”

After graduating from Blair in 1992, Ms. Giddins Pergram pursued a determined academic path, earning her BA from Skidmore College in 1996 as well as two master’s degrees—one in political communication from The George Washington University and another in journalism from Columbia University.

Her entry into the political field was similar to her reflection on Skeptics–feeling an unimagined spark after a simple act of service. Just after her senior year at Blair, she volunteered at a political event and immediately “caught the bug.” Since then, her career has spanned various facets of the political world, taking her across the country to meet a diverse array of people.

“I’ve tried many different areas of politics,” she says. “Some have been great and others I really have not enjoyed, but I’ve never stopped learning. Try things that make you uncomfortable or that you don’t know about, because you’ll never know if they will be for you if you don’t try.”

Even after graduating with her dual masters, Ms. Giddins Pergram has stayed close to academic institutions, currently serving as an adjunct professor at American University’s School of Communications. In her classes, students not only engage with the course material, but also gain insight into a real professional’s journey toward discovering her passion.
Ms. Giddins Pergram finds giving back to the future leaders of the world easy—and absolutely necessary.

“I love teaching the next generation of politicos. That’s where my political work led me—to the classroom. But I would never trade my time in various parts of the country working and meeting different people. I want students to know that politics isn’t just the White House and Congress but so much more—it’s the roads we drive on and the TV shows we watch.”

History of Skeptics
 
The Society of Skeptics was established as a forum for students and faculty to discuss and debate important global issues; it has grown to become one of the premier high school lecture series in the United States. Each week, speakers from the political, social, scientific, economic and literary arenas share their unique perspectives with students, who are encouraged to engage with presenters, asking questions and debating points of view.

The program, which is funded in part by the Class of 1968 Society of Skeptics Endowment Fund, is an outgrowth of the Blair International Society, begun in 1937. Forty years later, former history department chair Elliott Trommald, PhD, Hon. ’65, established the modern Skeptics program as a regular forum for student discussion and debate; history teacher Martin Miller, PhD, took over in the mid-1980s and molded the program into a weekly lecture series, one that has since continued without interruption. Under the tutelage of Dr. Miller and his successor, history department chair Jason Beck, Skeptics has featured a wide variety of speakers who are thought-provoking, engaging, accomplished in their respective fields and often controversial. For a listing of upcoming Skeptics programs, please visit Blair’s website.