Amazing Internships

I knew my internship at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York City was going to be an experience of a lifetime. But wow!!  I never expected I was going to personally meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush. There I am, Ashley Dopita, pictured with both of them. I’m proof that the Political Science major at FHSU can really take you places and open doors for you to work alongside top political leaders. My Fall 2007 internship at the State Department has been so incredible. I’ve been able to take information I learned in the classroom and apply it to real world tasks. And, of course, it’s been totally great for my résumé. One thing’s for sure, this internship is preparing me for the future, and I can’t wait to see what opportunities are ahead!

Spring 2007 was an experience of a lifetime for me. I’m Crystal Cook, and one of my dreams came true last spring when I had the incredible opportunity to intern in the White House!!  I was assigned to work with Vice President Cheney’s wife. It was an amazing experience. Literacy is an important initiative for Ms. Cheney and I enjoyed working on that program for her. I met the President and Vice President and so many wonderful people who dedicate their lives to public service. Best of all, my internship opened doors for full-time employment in our Nation’s Capitol. So now that I’ve graduated I’m back in D.C putting my FHSU Political Science degree to work!

I’m Tomi Dechant, and there I am pictured during my Summer 2007 internship with the Republic National Committee in Washington D.C. What an amazing summer I had!   It was a chance to pursue one of my passions, voter registration for young people. I got involved in voter registration efforts at FHSU when I took on the challenge of serving as the Student Director for Be Heard, the voter registration and mobilization project of the American Democracy Project. We had an incredible year, meeting our goal of registering nearly 400 new voters on campus! It was an awesome responsibility for me, and a major commitment of time and energy. But boy did it pay off!  I wouldn’t have made it to D.C. without that experience.  And now my summer in D.C. is opening even more doors for me as I apply for graduate school in public administration.

If working on political campaigns is your thing, FHSU Political Science can help you get great experience. Just ask us!  Whether your interests are local or national, the political management coursework will prepare you to make a real difference on the campaign trail. Far left there is me, Josh Blau, and what an amazing fall 2006 semester I had working on a U.S. House of Representatives campaign in North Carolina. I’m Mark Colwell pictured there next to Josh, and when I volunteered to drive a Kansas Senate candidate around the district during her campaign, I didn’t realize it was going to open so many doors. I’ve now worked in both the district and D.C. offices of my U.S. Representative. And I’ve even had an offer to work on a 2008 Presidential campaign! 

Nichole Keough and Victorya Woodall are pictured on the right. It was so awesome to have input on a local county commission race. Our candidate didn’t have a huge budget and he didn’t have the political management coursework we had to help guide him in running for a local office. But he did have good ideas and we believed in him and what he had to offer. It was such a thrill for us on election night to know that we had a hand in his success!

My year in Beijing, China still sometimes seems like a dream to me. I’m Diane Becker, and the whole world opened up for me during my life-changing year of study abroad. I’m just a girl-next-door from tiny Jennings, Kansas, with its population of slightly less than 200, but with the support of FHSU and the faculty in the Department of Political Science, I was up to the challenge of living, studying and working in a city of nearly 15 million on the other side of the globe!  And one of the most exciting parts of my China experience was my Spring 2006 internship with the Zhong Sheng Law Firm. I had always thought I wanted to practice law. After working at an international law firm, I still wanted a law degree, but so many other possibilities were suddenly on my horizon as well. I’m not sure where my international odyssey will end up taking me, but I’m pretty sure I’ll find my way back to China where I hope to combine my interests in law and public policy in ways that will further US-Sino relations.