|
Whether they are lobbying a member of Congress, working in the speaker of the House of Representative's office, or perhaps supporting a senator's quest to make it to the Oval Office, students here use GW's location to their advantage to get involved in the nation's capital.
"Our focus is not just our classes, our student organizations, or our friends. We're juggling an internship, maybe two," said Chris Brooks, a junior majoring in political communication.
Brooks has interned all over D.C. and currently works at Campaign Solutions, a campaign consulting firm specializing in online outreach. It's the kind of place he can see himself working after he graduates next year, and that is no coincidence, he said.
"I had interned at the Republican National Committee and seen the party side of politics, and up on the Hill and seen the public service side, so I wanted to see what the private sector had," Brooks said.
Other students, like junior Teddi Shihadeh, decided to stay on the Hill after doing a semester-long internship. Spending the last year working for Nancy Pelosi, the current speaker of the House has certainly piqued Shihadeh's interest.
"You get up on the Hill and you're involved with policy decisions that affect people across the country. I got addicted," Shihadeh said.
The addictive quality is what encouraged this psychology student to pick up a second major: political science. This way her internship and classwork flow seamlessly together.
"You see it in the campaign," Shihadeh said, speaking of Pelosi's re-election campaign in the fall. "You see how people tailor the message to affect people. That's all psychology. The stuff I learn in class in regards to political theory is seen in the policy work that goes on."
