San Diego, CA (special) -- Official Washington D.C. is a city that is obsessed by process. What do you do to win an election? How do you steer a bill through the Congress? How can you get on the White House's social A-list? How do you decide what is news and what is not?

These processes are not unimportant. Success in any of them can be a pathway to power and influence in the nation's capital. Mastery of all of them would guarantee you status as a political guru. Yet, we can be encouraged that such questions of process were of secondary interest to two students of the San Diego High School of Jewish Studies when the 15 members of their "Jewish Civics Initiative" class visited Washington earlier this year.

Although they were able to attend a breakfast lecture by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and meet high-powered advocates for a variety of non profit organizations, students Tamar Abrams, 17, and Uri Kagan, 16, were a lot more impressed by meeting some of the needy people in the "other" Washington --the part of the city where the day's challenge is not to line up enough votes, but to obtain a meal; where social success isn't measured by invitations to the President's party, but by finding a bed in which to sleep that night.

The Jewish Civics Initiative class delves into the concept of Tikkun Olam -Repair of the World--from a pragmatic viewpoint, according to Mickie Targum, the SDHSJS principal. The trip to Washington D.C., which necessitated the students missing their secular classes for the better part of a week, was intended to show them "how it works, and to encourage them to become active in their own community."

Abrams and Kagan were joined on the trip by Eric Adler, Jonathan Aires, Aaron Boone, Daniel Ellman, Shana Karp, Jacob Proud, Brandon Ravet, Garron Robinson, Daniel Schechter, Sareet Stotland, Jacob Szmulowicz, Adam Wollach and Sofiya Zhovnovatiy. Joining Targum as chaperons were the JCI instructors at the two campuses: Marc Camras and Jack Maizel.

Once in Washington, the San Diego County students joined similar student groups from other parts of the country. Field trip groups combined students from each region. Abrams' group volunteered for half a day at Martha's Table, which provides food and daycare for families on welfare. Kagan's group, meanwhile, volunteered at the Washington Home and Hospice.

Abrams, a congregant at Chabad at Poway, volunteered to play with the young children. "I just had the most amazing time of it," she said during an interview last week at San Diego's Agency for Jewish Education. "I don't think the children really get to know many people because all the people who come in are volunteers and they will come in for one day and then not show up again. The whole time I was there I felt really sad that I couldn't come back the next day because the kids were amazing. They were happy... they were able to make friends with you so quickly. They understood. 'I'll be your friend today and maybe you will come and see me again and maybe you won't."

Kagan, a member of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, called bingo for senior citizens and later spoke with some of them about their lives. "A lot of the people there are not different than we are," he said. "One woman put her life savings and herself into a nursing home, because her husband had died and she didn't want to be a burden on the family. She had been there for three months and it cost several thousand dollars a month to stay there. She said she was getting loans just to stay in the nursing home, which was kind of sad."

Both students interacted with Washington's homeless population: "In D.C., they have homeless people on every block you go versus here where there are some areas where you can walk without seeing them," Kagan said. What surprised him, he said, was that of approximately 15 homeless people he talked with, more than a dozen had some college education and were well-informed about current events. The common denominator for homelessness in Washington? "Deaths in the family, or divorce; one guy was talking about his wife who left him, and his getting depressed," Kagan replied.

Abrams remembers meeting a homeless man who composed poetry, but write it down. "It occurred to me, 'wait a second, I have my pen and my pad (which she had brought to take notes at a previous meeting), and I didn't use it for anything. It would be a shame to let it go to waste, so I gave it to him for writing poetry." Meeting the man was quite moving for her. "I almost started crying right there; it was so unfair to see this person who was obviously so intelligent but couldn't make his way."

The Washington trip was three months ago, and both students said it has affected their outlooks on life. Kagan said he decided to take a summer job at a local Starbucks Coffee outlet after learning that the company "donates almost all their food every night to local shelters" and also is committed to other forms of social service.

Abrams, who is making student videos, has decided her next project will be about homeless people. Additionally, she said, "I have been putting a whole lot more money in the tzedakah box lately; every Friday I put in a couple of dollars instead of a few coins."