Program: Wisconsin in Washington, DC Internship Program, Summer virtual
Joseph’s Majors: Political Science and Economics, Certificate in Criminal Justice
Describe your internship and how it has helped advance your career or studies.
My internship involves researching Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans issued to utilities across the country by the EPA. Also, updating the Wastewater Centralized Clearinghouse located on the EPA website. Finally, reviewing bills that would affect the Office of Water and preparing meeting materials. This helped me advance my career by giving me more experience utilizing my economics background while balancing that with policy work.
What challenges or barriers did you face as you prepared for your program?
A challenge I faced was getting through the EPA required background check. This took a very long time and was out of my control which was frustrating. I worked through this by staying in constant contact with my intern supervisor to try and expedite my HR process. Though my internship took some time to get started, I will have two solid months of working at the EPA before returning to school for my senior year.
How will this experience benefit you in the future?
This experience will benefit me in the future since it has made me really consider and explore my career aspirations and what I’d like to pursue upon graduation. It has also connected me to a network of people working in D.C., which will benefit my career as I look for positions in D.C. after graduating. The program has also boosted my confidence in my academic and professional abilities, which will help my studies and career going forward.
What did you learn about yourself or the world because of this experience?
I learned to have much more confidence in myself and believe that I can get any job I put my mind to. Coming into this program, I lacked confidence and belief in my abilities to work professionally for a D.C. organization. However, through this program, meeting with mentors, connections with people outside my organization, and co-workers within the EPA, I found the confidence to navigate the D.C. professional world.
“This [internship] helped me advance my career by giving me more experience utilizing my economics background while balancing that with policy work.”