Washington Internship ProgramS/S/F-08

Academic Requirements

Congratulations on acquiring your Internship! I am confident that this will be an outstanding opportunity for you greatly to enhance your educational experience as well as to provide superb representation for Grove City College at the site where you will be carrying out your internship duties. I have every confidence in your abilities and look forward to working with you throughout the semester. Accordingly, please note the following points about how to proceed in your internship, keeping in mind that a number of matters cited below should be regarded as guidelines, depending upon the type of internship you have.

  1. The Basic Requirements:
  2. Academic Requirements: Satisfying the academic requirements for the Washington Internship Program in a Congressional Office involves writing papers on the basis of attendance at Congressional hearings, public lectures, or any place where policy issues are presented and discussed. Your specific duties may vary, depending on the type of internship that you will be doing. Internship duties at think tanks, executive departments, private research organizations,interest groups, judicial offices, other professional offices, foreign assignments, and so forth, often proceed according to different criteria. This means that fulfilling your specific internship requirements may vary in ways that are appropriate for your particular internship site. The crucial point is to carry out assigned tasks related to your specific kind of internship, and variations of the requirements listed below can be worked out.
  3. Writing: For all internships, you are required to write (at the rate of) one paper per week, for a minimum of fourteen over the length of your internship for the Fall or Spring Semesters and eight for a Summer Internship. These papers should be five pages in length (or more), footnoted (when relevant), and include any relevant illustrative documents as appendices. Work that is EQUIVALENT to this assignment is readily accepted.
  4. Executive summary: Your papers should be succinct, crisply written, and introduced by a single page executive summary of points made in your paper. The executive summary should have your name, date, internship site, title of the paper, and supervisor. Your papers should be on subjects that cover the sort of activities that you would be engaged in during the normal process of carrying out your duties as an intern. Consider these papers as professionally done presentations to your employer, who wants to know the “bottom line” of the topics you have been assigned to research.
  5. Substitutions: It is also possible for you to satisfy your writing requirements by engaging in other work required by your supervisor, such as research on legislation, for instance. Larger projects may be regarded as substitute(s) for your papers, some of them or all of them, depending on the size of the assignment and the nature of your particular internship requirements. The point is to complete written work that constitutes part of your regular assignments as an intern.
  6. Questions: If you have any questions about this matter, simply keep me informed and we’ll discuss it. Each internship site has its own dynamics, and we shall remain flexible in dealing with the academic requirements of your internship. Finally, collect your internship materials as you proceed during the semester, and present them in your internship folder to me when your internship has been completed.
  7. Log of Activities:
  8. You should also complete a log of your activities during your internship, should it become the case that you find yourself in regular contact with public officials and/or visitors to your office. The best way to do this is to secure a pocket calendar and record significant events as they occur over the course of your internship.
  9. Naturally, your duties will become routine after a while, and you’ll have few things to put down. Other times you will be glad to have a record of whom you spoke to or what you did at various times, so you can refer to such events later. All executives need to keep records of what they did at various times (often for their own protection), so consider this activity as a mode of training for future development. Employ a notebook as well, if you find it necessary. Much of the time, you will.
  10. Keeping in touch:
  11. Be sure to keep in contact with me via email and let me know how to get in contact with you. Please supply your work number, your home number while you’re living near your internship site, your supervisor’s numbers, and your email address. I can be reached at . Please keep me apprised of your duties as they develop and of course feel free to ask any questions along the way. If possible, I will visit you at your internship site and chat with your co-workers as well as your supervisor.
  12. Finally, I want again to offer you my congratulations! Your time spent as an intern should be an exciting, eye-opening experience, one that will enhance your understanding and appreciation of American politics as well as any other professional activities associated with your internship site. Without question, your work will greatly augment your understanding of politics and clarify your career choices.

Best wishes!

Marvin J. Folkertsma

Director