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Posted Jan. 12/08
- The Washington Center internship program participants (from left) Chris Harrison and his roommates Shad Thevenaz from the University of Alberta, Brad Melzer from Illinois State University and Michael Luu from the University of Calgary, saw presidential candidates speak, met with deans from graduate schools, and toured historic sites and neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., in their down time.
The 2007 summer term between his third and fourth year of a political science degree, Chris Harrison left Canada’s capital for the United States’ capital. As one of the first two Carleton participants in The Washington Center (TWC) internship program, Harrison served four days a week as an intern in Washington, D.C., while earning credit for his degree.
“I’ve always had an interest in U.S. history and politics, and the internship was an opportunity to be surrounded by them,” says Harrison. “TWC was an opportunity for me to pursue my interests in American politics and government with greater depth and intensity than I could ever find at home.”
Open to third- and fourth-year political science and master’s students, TWC’s internship grants a full-semester credit while placing students in positions in Congress, executive agencies, the Canadian Embassy, law offices or the voluntary sector. Matched for a placement upon his chosen program of study at TWC in law and criminal justice, and submissions such as a paper on Supreme Court cases during the war on terrorism, Harrison interned at LawMedia Group, a strategy group headed by former House Judiciary Committee minority counsel Julian Epstein.
“I could never have imagined that my internship would have been as comfortable a fit as it turned out to be,” says Harrison. “During the internship, I was able to develop my research and writing skills: soon after arriving, staff became aware of my interest in writing and gave me several projects through which I could satisfy that craving.”
While it was never his plan to land a job through the internship program, LawMedia was such a good fit that Harrison was offered a job upon graduation.
“From courses taught by experts working in Washington to an internship that put me in a position of real responsibility, I was able to spend a remarkable amount of time doing the things that I love doing, and learning a lot more about them, too,” says Harrison. “If it weren’t for TWC, the chances of me making it to Washington would have been slim.”