Scholarships open doors like few things in higher education. This summer, La Follette students are opening doors across the globe thanks to support from Ascendium and Summer Policy Learning Experience Scholarships.
MPA student Hayley Green is interning as a therapist assistant intern at the Southern Wisconsin Center (SWC) in Racine, a state-run facility that serves adult clients with intellectual disabilities combined with other physical or mental health disorders. In her role, Green is learning the irreplaceable value of frontline experience in shaping policy. Working directly with frontline care staff such as nurses, psychologists, therapists, and physicians has allowed her to better understand the systems and processes that must be in place to give residents the best quality of care possible and center patients in policy considerations. Her favorite part of the summer has been creating connections with residents and watching their progress.
“I’ve learned how important it is to have experience ‘on the floor’ before making policy changes,” Green said.
Green’s La Follette background, particularly her coursework in public management and policy analysis, has been crucial to understanding the policymaking process at SWC. And her holistic education has made her more adaptable and better equipped to problem-solve on the fly.
The Summer Policy Learning Experience Award from La Follette made this opportunity possible.
“The award has allowed me to work with an organization that embodies the beliefs and values I hold in making equitable, sustainable policy changes tailored to community needs, without financial barriers,” Green said.
More than 4,000 miles across the Atlantic, MIPA student Ella Mitchell is serving as a Humanitarian Action Fellow with the Duke Global Policy Program in Geneva, where she’s learning about the complexities of neutral humanitarian assistance and the challenges NGOs and the UN face in gaining access to countries in crisis.
“My favorite part of this experience has been the candid conversations with experts in the humanitarian assistance field,” Mitchell said. “Asking questions directly of practitioners working in aid distribution and food security has opened my eyes to new challenges and approaches to basic needs work and crisis response.”
She’s also gained insight into the funding reset happening across the aid sector and how organizations are adapting to fundamental operational changes.
Her La Follette coursework strengthened her skills in collaborative memos and case studies, and she directly applied those skills in her fellowship program, where she recently worked with fellow participants on a case study about providing primary care to Sudanese refugees in Chad.
The La Follette Summer Policy Learning Experience Scholarship made the full fellowship possible.
“The assistance with tuition costs allowed me to stay longer in Geneva, network with professionals in the humanitarian assistance sector, and refine my professional goals,” Mitchell said.
Back in the Greater Madison area, DeForest resident and undergraduate student Gavin Denning is working as a management intern at the Village of DeForest, where he’s learning that local government progress is a team effort requiring input from multiple departments, boards, commissions and private sector partners.
“It has been rewarding to be close to the change in my community,” Denning said. “At the local government level, progress is more tangible and it makes me happy when quality of life improves for DeForest residents.”
His La Follette coursework has been directly applicable every day, particularly the skill of evaluating every side of a policy decision before recommending options to a board. Having the support from the Ascendium Scholarship has been transformative.
“Receiving a La Follette Public Policy Ascendium Scholarship has made my summer stress free. I am focusing on my internship and classwork without the burden of a tuition bill on my shoulders,” Denning said.
These scholarships do more than offset costs. They signal belief in the student, remove barriers to opportunity and create a pipeline of talented professionals committed to public service.
– Story by Outreach Assistant Ana Massoglia