Internship Location: Remote
Organization Type: Nonprofit
Policy Areas: Social Justice, Health policy
This summer, my main task was to contact candidates and legislators to inform them about rare diseases in Wisconsin. Through my conversations, I learned strategies for approaching them. Additionally, one of the things I hoped to get out of my internship was to expand on the questions I asked in the classroom, like, how do you keep up with policy changes in the field? My supervisor’s answer was she subscribed to a newsletter. The interactions with legislators were also valuable for me. I improved myself professionally and conducted myself more naturally, especially as I realized legislators are not that scary! They are people and can be very down-to-earth. I would recommend this internship to other students! There are a variety of opportunities, and I truly appreciate the different choices I had. It almost makes me wish the summer term was longer so I could dive deeper into the internship. The supervisor I had allowed for a lot of freedom and did not micromanage the work I was doing. I believe this style and discussions on an as-needed basis helped me grow more. The supervisor is incredibly knowledgeable as well! This internship will help me in my career as a social worker to better advocate for clients. The process I took in the internship is a helpful guide to how I can contact and connect with Legislators. This helped me think about my future career and how I could see myself doing this work and enjoying it. Thank you La Follette for facilitating these amazing experiences!