Student: How I spent my summer in D.C.

When I applied to The Fund for American Studies’ academic internship program last March, I had no idea I was going to have the best summer of my life. My eight weeks in the nation’s

capital were far from boring!

On a professional level, I had the opportunity to learn from professional journalists, diplomats, and other political officials. Academically, the internship program allowed me to expand my knowledge of American politics and economics. I am incredibly happy to have also made many friends and explore all the wonderful and exciting things the city of Washington, D.C., has to offer.

Every Tuesday evening and Friday morning, we would meet at George Mason University in Arlington, Va., to take an economics class. I took a course titled “Economics for the Citizen,” which covered the basics of economics. Although I will admit I was not thrilled about this class, it helped me acquire a better understanding of economic principles. The economics class was only one aspect of the many different things offered by the program.

Every Tuesday after class, we also met together with our respective groups to hear guest speakers talk about their professional experiences. In the journalism group, we heard from a White House correspondent, an opinion writer at the Washington Examiner, a former broadcaster and filmmaker, and a public affairs expert.

Besides class and the guest lectures, we also participated in a civil debate hosted by an organization called Braver Angels. I volunteered to be one of the speakers arguing in favor

of the resolution that the mainstream media is no longer objective. What I enjoyed most about this experience was the objective of this debate was to encourage civil discourse instead of having both sides fight each other.

Every week was filled with all sorts of events we were expected to attend with all the students in the program or as part of our program tracks. Out of all the events, I especially enjoyed the journalism-focused, career-exploration activities. I visited the Washington Examiner newsroom and toured C-SPAN’s multiple studios and facilities. Outside of the journalism-related events, I attended a judicial briefing where I learned about the inner

workings of the Department of Justice and the American justice system as a whole. Another event I went to was a Capitol Hill lecture hosted by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky where he shared some of his political views. On top of all these events, I also had the opportunity to learn more about diplomacy when visiting the Embassy of Spain.

I interned remotely with Homeland Security Today, an online publication dedicated to informing the Department of Homeland Security community. My responsibilities included promoting stories on LinkedIn to increase engagement on social media and the publication’s website. I also collaborated with the other interns on a piece about the best ways to help refugees. Another daily task I carried out was to aggregate pieces on the topic of border security and immigration. Overall, this internship helped me gain a deeper understanding of the work carried out by Homeland Security and the current immigration policies set in place by our government.

To mine and the other interns’ surprise, the TFAS journalism track director, Joe Starrs, gave us memberships to the National Press Club. The Press Club was certainly one of the many highlights of the summer. With the membership, I was able to meet professional journalists and hear about their experiences. One of the events I truly enjoyed at the Press Club was a panel discussion about the distrust of the media with an executive from NPR, a writer for The Washington Post, and the dean of the School of Communications at American University.

Outside of career-oriented activities, I had such a wonderful time exploring the nation’s capital and visiting all the historic monuments and landmarks. I loved every time I walked around the National Mall with my friends and saw the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. I also enjoyed seeing the outside of the White House and the U.S. Capitol on multiple occasions.

Although it was a consequence of a serious event, I was lucky to have the opportunity to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to witness the protests in response to the Roe vs. Wade decision. This was an unreal experience since it was a decision being covered by news outlets across the nation and I witnessed the aftermath firsthand.

Another remarkable event I witnessed was the Fourth of July celebrations. I

saw the parade around National Mall in the morning with friends and ended the day with beautiful fireworks.

My favorite thing about D.C. was certainly the number of things to do and places to visit. Every week there were all sorts of festivals and activities going on, many of which were free. I simply had an unforgettable time, and I cannot wait to go back to continue exploring the city.

Read story at UIW's student newspaper, The Logos.