This page portrays the internship experiences of WP alumni. Read on to see what its like to participate in the Washington Program and be a Washington Intern.
“The Washington Program taught me key work skills like professionalism and networking but also research skills,” says Alum Amanda Trusen’18
Alumni Amanda Trusen ’18
Amanda interned for CARE, a major international humanitarian agency. Consequently, Amanda received a first-hand look at CARE’s advocacy efforts. Amanda started off her internship by attending CARE’s National Conference where she advocated for CARE’s issues on Capitol Hill. Beyond that, Amanda’s work encompassed a variety of tasks and responsibilities. These tasks and responsibilities include providing support to team members, debriefing, budgeting, proofreading and editing reports as well as performing political advocacy research. Amanda also took an active role in supporting her organization’s Citizen Advocacy Team and their “Amplify Your Voice” Initiative.
In the future, Amanda hopes to work with a non-profit organization bent on combating the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“The discursive, seminar-style of the class helped me articulate my thoughts more clearly and illuminated the complexity of politics.”-Alum Xuejie Kimball ’18
Xuejie hopes to travel the world and utilize her linguistic skills.
Xuejie worked as an intern for Many Languages One Voice (MLOV), a nonprofit organization with a mission to help immigrants in need find their voice and fight for their rights.
Xuejie participated in many administrative tasks. These tasks involved answering phones and emails, researching local policies, creating infographics, and managing MLOV’s social media account. Xuejie brought her multilingual skills to her internship in order to translate waiver and consent forms for MLOV’s legal clients. Overall, Xuejie cultivated her analytical skills as well as her ability to think critically when examining sensitive political topics.
In the future, Xuejie hopes to travel the world and utilize her linguistic skills to improve the lives of others.
“This program allowed me to realize my strong suits, and work on my weaknesses. Most of all, it gave me the opportunity to test out a future career field, something not many get to do before they dive in headfirst.” –Alum Beatrice Burroughs ‘18
Beatrice’s Washington experience showed her that politics is an ever-shifting puzzle.
Beatrice worked as a policy intern for Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS). CASS is a grassroots organization that makes use of “comprehensive, community-based solutions to eliminate public gendered harassment and assault in the DC metropolitan area.” During her tenure, Beatrice immersed herself in the policies of DC City Council. She performed literature and statistics research, memorized legislative records and familiarized herself with the personal political causes of each council member. Additionally, she took part in writing, editing, and peer-reviewing speeches and press releases.
In essence, Beatrice’s Washington experience showed her that politics is an ever-shifting puzzle. An ever-shifting puzzle that requires “constant effort and attention” to instigate change.
With that in mind, Beatrice aspires to work within the system and effect change institutionally. As a result, she hopes to advocate for pro-choice policies and campaign against sexual violence on college campuses.