News
GVSU Students Intern in DC through The Washington Center
July 19, 2021
GVSU Students Intern in DC through The Washington Center
For over 45 years The Washington Center (TWC) has been providing internships in the nation’s capital for tens of thousands of college students. Grand Valley students have been participating in the Washington Center’s programs since 2008. The department of Political Science and International Relations is pleased to have four of our students participating in TWC’s summer program.
Kyla Dukes
“This summer I am interning at an international non-profit called Ashoka. Ashoka works with social entrepreneurs to find, develop, and finance their ideas to create large change internationally. At Ashoka, I am working as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Intern, whose main focus is researching gender disparities and discrimination in the world and gathering resources to include them in a large database used by Ashoka members, employees, and board executives. Ashoka uses the information I am gathering to develop important conversations on this topic while also using it to bring more inclusion and diversity into the Ashoka workplace.”
Julian Sanders
“As a summer 2021 Government Relations intern with McAllister and Quinn, a Federal Grant and Government Relations Consulting Firm, I have been granted the privilege to serve in various capacities within the firm. My overall responsibilities are to conduct research on federal grants and track other agency activities and announcements, lead program-specific research including analyzing the FY2022 President's budget to develop memos and reports for our clients across health care practices, higher education institutions (including HBCU's and MSI's), nonprofit organizations and small businesses. Also, I attend and help assist in the preparation for virtual Congressional hearings/meetings. In all honesty, having the courage to step out of my comfort zone and obtain hands-on, in-person work experience on Capitol Hill has been such a life-changing experience for me. This summer internship experience has granted me the opportunity to network and meet some great individuals from all over the world. I have been able to utilize my free time to tour the nation's capital, visit surrounding college campuses, and of course, try some amazing foods. I certainly recommend that more students take advantage of this memorable experience to intern through The Washington Center. Special thanks to GVSU for their partnership with TWC. Thanks to the liaison between TWC and GVSU students, Professor Donald Zinman, who mentioned this great opportunity, as well as President Mantella and VP Jesse Bernal for their continued support throughout my experiences here in D.C and at GVSU.”
Collin Gawron
“I am interning this summer with the BIED Society, an international think tank that focuses on a variety of international and domestic topics. I specialize in United Nations-Middle East relations as a part of their counterterrorism team. My day-to-day work includes researching potential job opportunities and graduate school programs, while also remaining up to date on current events and posting my findings to LinkedIn. I was also responsible for two pieces of original content each week in the form of a video and an article on a topic of our choosing from the week to be posted by the organization.”
Shireen Salam
The first ever recipient of the GV in DC Endowed Scholarship, Shireen is a double major in International Relations and Criminal Justice who is interning this summer with the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC. EPIC is dedicated to educating the American public about the needs of the people in Iraq and the conditions endured by Iraqis, as well as facilitating humanitarian assistance in the country. As part of her internship duties, Shireen works with other interns and colleagues to gather data and situational updates from local, Arabic-language news sources. They then use this information to compile weekly reports on current political, security, economic, and humanitarian conditions in Iraq for interested parties such as activists, researchers, and analysts, but also to inform ordinary individuals interested in learning about the everyday reality in the country. These reports are accessible by anyone, and can be found on the organization's website under the title of “ISHM.”