GW administrators played host to 30 area middle school students as part of National Groundhog Job Shadow Day Tuesday.

Since 1996, Groundhog Job Shadow Day has grown to a nationwide program that gives students the chance to “shadow” a professional by spending a day with them in the workplace.

Seventh-grade students from Oxon Hill Middle School were teamed up with 15 administrators to see what life is like as a GW employee. Two students were paired with one administrator who acted as a mentor and showed them the daily “ins and outs” of working at GW.

James Stays and Lorenzo Spires both were paired with the Director of Pre-College Programs Farnoosh Shahrohki.

“I’m the smartest kid in my class,” Spires said. “I’m not doing so well in math this year, though.”

Among his long list of career choices, Spires said he would like to attend Stanford University and become a politician or a movie critic. Shahrohki said he definitely would need math for either of those occupations. She showed each boy a copy of the budget she handles each day and let them figure out how to manage the money.

Nicole Williams was matched with Helen Cannaday Saulny, special assistant to the vice president.

“This was a good experience,” Williams said. “I learned a lot about college and what it means to communicate and work with people.”

Cannaday Saulny showed the students what she does and took them on a tour of the registrar’s and admissions offices.

“I really enjoyed this,” Cannaday Saulny said. “I was trying to show the students that all the things they’re learning in school right now are things they’re going to need when they get to be my age. I wish they had a program like this when I was growing up.”