| Washington Semester sees growth, unveils two new summer programs BY ADRIENNE FRANK If Dean David Brown’s mailbag is any indication, it’s going to be a busy summer for AU’s Washington Semester Program. Last Tuesday, alone, Brown received 33 applications for Washington Semester’s undergraduate summer internship program, and interest in two new offerings, including a graduate program, is equally high. The Graduate Internship Program in Public and International Affairs, which has more of a political science bent than the undergraduate track, will enroll about 25 students, according to Brown. “We’re getting some very interesting applicants, including a woman from Stanford who’s working on her master’s in molecular biology,” he said. “But, she still wants that Washington experience, so hopefully we’ll place her at the National Institutes of Health or someplace like that.” Also new this year is a program for college-bound high school students entering their junior and senior years. Brown hopes the program, which runs three days a week for three weeks in July, will draw about 75 students from the metropolitan D.C. area. “What makes this program special is the seminars. Professors will bring in lecturers and guest speakers, so it will really give kids a ‘taste’ of college,” said Brown. The high schoolers will attend classes in American politics, justice and law, and international business but, unlike other Washington Semester students, they will not be housed on campus. “The program runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., so parents will be able to drop off their kids on their way to work,” Brown said. Brown expects Washington Semester’s third program, the undergraduate summer internship, to draw about 150 students in June and July, an increase of 14 percent over last summer’s enrollment. And while the focus is on building a résumé—students will spend four and a half days each week interning with a government agency or business—they also will take an afternoon class. Course offerings include American politics, foreign policy, justice and law, print and broadcast media, and economic policy and international business. Washington Semester’s fourth summer program and a mainstay, Washington Internships for Native Students (WINS), is aimed at Native American students, particularly those from tribal colleges. The 6-credit WINS program is the most academically rigorous of the four offerings, said Brown, as students will work Monday through Friday and take classes in public policy three nights a week. “When they get here, I tell them, ‘You’re going to be working harder than anyone else here,’” Brown said. The targeted enrollment for WINS, which is now in its 12th year, is 75 students. However, because each student is sponsored by a government agency, including the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Defense, that number isn’t set in stone. “In that way, it’s very competitive,” said Brown. “We might have 120 to 130 very qualified students competing for 80 placements. “It’s a wonderful program, though. Over the last 12 years we’ve built very strong relationships with sponsors at these agencies who really believe in what they’re doing.” |
