By McKenzie Roese, Career Services Ambassador
While summertime is usually my time to kick back, relax, and enjoy a little sunshine by the beach, I decided to resist my normal summer routine: instead, I was going to enter the workforce. This past summer, I ventured away from my Minnesota home to explore our nation’s capital – Washington DC. Being a political science major, I wanted to be thrown into the heart of American politics during such an exciting time in US history: the presidential election season. To get the most out of my DC experience, I applied for the Davidson in Washington program where I took a US foreign policy seminar with a Davidson professor, Dr. Ortmayer, and worked full-time at an organization of my choosing.
Considering marketing and public policy have always been interests of mine, I decided to
work at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) as their only undergraduate marketing and communications intern. CLINIC, a member-based non-profit organization, aims to help provide support to its nationwide affiliates in order to help provide the best legal assistance for low-income immigrants. Because immigration policy is such a diverse field, I worked with a wide-array of people during my time at CLINIC: law students, attorneys, marketing managers, and even accountants. In terms of my work, I performed social media research for immigration-related articles, trends, and legislation. I also created a marketing plan for CLINIC’s upcoming events by designing email-marketing strategies to increase sponsorship.
Working at CLINIC by day and discussing US foreign policy at night, I have to say the Davidson in Washington experience couldn’t have been more rewarding. Not only did I learn about marketing strategy for a nationwide non-profit, but I also lived three blocks away from the White House. Looking back on it, I have to admit having Obama as my neighbor definitely beats sitting by the beach all day long.