August 7, 2015

Students head to US Congress as interns

It’s Washington, DC, bound for two students from UOW who will soon learn first-hand how the US Congress works.

Fourth year Arts/International Studies student, Thomas Curran, will work in the Congressional Office of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee while third year Commerce/Law student, Lachlan Foster, has been selected for the Office of Representative Mark DeSaulnier of California. The internships will run from 5 January 2016 to 27 February 2016.

The two UOW students will be interns participating in the Uni-Capitol Washington Internship Program. It’s a program that has paired up-and-coming Australian students with various congressional offices for the past16 years. To date, 170 students across Australia have been successfully matched with different Congressional offices.

UOW hasn’t sent a student on the program for two years so the Office of Global Student Mobility (OGSM) was ecstatic to learn that UOW scored two places out of a possible 14 across the country. The OGSM submitted eight applicant names from UOW for consideration. Wollongong was one of 10 universities in Australia invited to submit applicants.

“UOW is really fortunate to be a part of the Washington Internship Program as it is a wonderful opportunity for our students,” according to Outbound Programs Co-ordinator Sarah Morrison.

Thomas said he was thrilled to have been selected for the program, pointing out that it would add context to his university studies and help prepare him for future employment.

And Lachlan described it as “a dream come true” as he was very excited to be able to represent UOW and Australia in the United States”.

Internship prospects are offered in Democratic and Republican offices, personal and committee offices, the House and the Senate, and one commission office. Matched students are drawn from a breadth of academic disciplines including international relations, politics, commerce, law, political communications, economics, the sciences, and, of course, American studies. 

Politicians from the US and Australia have, over the years, spoken in their respective political arenas about the importance of this program concept. 

The Uni-Capitol Washington Internship Program was created by Eric K. Federing who has directed and managed the program pro bono since its single university intake beginnings in 1999. Federing was a senior congressional advisor for about 12 years as communication director/press secretary for Rep. Norm Mineta of California, the House Transportation Committee, and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.