This winter eight UWT students spent the winter quarter working for the State Legislature as members of the state’s Legislative Internship Program.  About 60 students statewide are selected each year, and this year UWT had more students participating than any other school.  Interns work directly for members of the Senate or House.  On the House side, Rania Elbasiony (senior, Law & Policy) interned for Reps. Chopp, Sullivan and Peterson; Alex Morrison (senior, Politics Philosophy & Economics) for Reps. Schmick, Tharinger and Dent; and Kegan Ross (senior, SIAS) for Reps. Leavitt and Fey.  Alex Seddon (senior, Politics, Philosophy & Economics) worked in Sen. Mark Mullet’s office, Alexandria Swanson (senior Law & Policy) for Sen. Ann Rivers, Maria Colocho (senior, Law & Policy) for Sen. Mona Das, Shelby Wiedmann (senior, Politics, Philosophy & Economics) for Sen. Patty Kuderer, and Andrew Volgelgesang (senior, Politics, Philosophy & Economics) for Sen. John Braun.  The internship requires a full time commitment for the winter term, although many of the interns have opted to remain for the rest of the session, which is scheduled to finish at the end of April.  All students earn 15 credits, and complete substantial academic work in addition to their work with the Legislature.

Three other PPPA students also interned in Olympia this winter.  Walter Smit worked full time for the Washington State Secretary of State’s Office, a position that had him testifying twice before Senate and House Committees. Theresa Leo interned with the Washington State Board of Education; and for the second year in a row, Adan Espino spent the quarter lobbying in Olympia on behalf of UWT students.