Former President George W. Bush met with other officials from the Bush administration Tuesday in the Collins Executive Education Building in an “informal strategy session” for his Policy Institute.

The Policy Institute will be part of Bush’s presidential library complex at SMU. Tuesday’s meeting was the first in a series of informal strategy sessions about the plans for the Institute, according to Rob Saliterman, Communications Director for the Office of George W. Bush. The locations of future sessions have not been determined.

About 20 members from the former administration came to the meeting, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In addition to attending the meeting, Rice also took time to meet with two students personally: Junior Stephen Reiff and incoming freshman Roza Essaw.

Essaw is a senior at Wiley High School in Wiley, Texas who will come to SMU in the fall as a Hunt Scholar, according to an e-mail sent by SMU Director of Media Relations Robert Bobo. Essaw is originally from Ethiopia. Bobo said Essaw hopes to major in political science and journalism.

Reiff was part of a larger group of students who gathered outside the Collins building Tuesday morning to see Bush.

Unlike his last visit, Bush did not stop and meet with students before leaving campus after the meeting. Rice did stop and take photos with students before she left campus.

After Bush got into his car, Reiff said he decided to go into the Collins building because he knew Rice was still inside. He was able to speak with Rice after speaking to Lori S. White, the vice-president for student affairs.

“Condi actually told me to tell her about myself,” he said. “I just told her a little bit -about what I’m studying, where I’m from and thanked her for her service for our country. She just said that she’s enjoying a little bit of a slower pace and being in more control of her schedule.”

Reiff called the experience a “great opportunity.”

“It was great,” he said. “Even a couple of minutes… it was a huge blessing.”