In the summer months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, 35 Hillsdale College students interned in Washington, D.C. Their internships provided both professional and personal growth within the Hillsdale community. 

The 35 students, whose number has increased each year since COVID-19, showcased the appeal to working the summer leading up to the election, said Leah Whetstone-Nalepa, a consultant at Hillsdale’s Washington D.C. Kirby Center. 

“We really strive to do our best to maintain our Hillsdale culture,” Whetstone said. 

The Kirby Center held an alumni networking mixer on June 7, providing opportunities to meet graduated Hillsdale professionals. 

Senior Makayla Babcock, who worked for the America First Policy Institute, said D.C. circles recognize the Hillsdale name. 

“When you say you are from Hillsdale in D.C., people immediately expect more from you, especially if they have worked with other Hillsdale students in their workplace in the past,” Babcock said. “Hillsdale students can be trusted with more responsibility, so you can grow really fast professionally. You have to protect that reputation as well, so you rise to the challenge of bearing the Hillsdale name.”

Junior Ashley Poole interned at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation as a Public Policy Fellow (NCOSE). 

Over the summer Poole worked to develop a better understanding for policies that reduce the demand for sexual exploitation, Poole said. 

“From a young age I developed a passion for the anti-human trafficking movement. Throughout high school and college, I worked in a drop-in center and safe house for survivors of trafficking in Houston, the hub of trafficking in our nation.” 

Poole’s internship was recommended by the faculty of Hillsdale in D.C., and through those connections she was able to represent the Hillsdale community at her internship. 

“The NCOSE has never had a Hillsdale student work there and I was honored to represent Hillsdale,” Poole said. 

The Hillsdale College community was evident in the D.C. area. according to Poole. 

“The Hillsdale community is always around. The culture from the Michigan campus translates well in D.C. and it is refreshing,” Poole said.

Junior Lucy Minning, who interned for Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, said the culture of Hillsdale in D.C. strongly correlated to the main campus’ environment of educational rigor. 

“It prepares you well for being in an atmosphere like Hillsdale and then going to D.C. The problem is sometimes the work can feel unstimulating, unlike learning at Hillsdale,” Minning said. “But on the other hand I felt like, in a way, I was more ahead than the other interns, just because of learning in my politics classes at Hillsdale. I could recognize if an amendment was unconstitutional based on my previous classes.”

Senior John Schaefer said Hillsdale’s reputation and the community of students and faculty in D.C. pushed professional growth outside the students’ individual internships.  

“Hillsdale in D.C. does a lot for the students there. They provide good networking opportunities, programming for professional growth, and events such as the 4th of July party,” Schaefer said. 

He said the alumni network in D.C. connected him with opportunities outside politics alone. During his internship at the Claremont Institute Center for the American Way of Life, he said he read about different social philosophies. 

“I did a lot of work in philosophy and translation using the unorthodox research skills from my music classes,” Schaefer said. “The way you learn to write at Hillsdale was very helpful.” 

Each of the students said            Hillsdale’s education prepared them for their internships. Additionally, the Hillsdale community in D.C. was very encouraging, particularly where they were living, Babcock said.  

Minning lived in a Hillsdale-owned townhouse on Capitol Hill, colloquially known as “The Hillsdale House,” and said she had never met her roommates before living with them. 

“I met people I never would have known otherwise. I had a Hillsdale community in a new city,” she said.

Babcock, who also lived in the townhouse, found it to be a good way to become acquainted with other like-minded Hillsdale students whom she had not previously met. 

“Sometimes at Hillsdale, you can get absorbed into your own social group without branching out, and you realize we all have so much in common, and we are all pursuing the same things,” she said. “You can always find a good community anywhere with Hillsdale people even if you did not know them before.”

The other Hillsdale-owned townhouse on Capitol Hill hosted students in the graduate program and other undergraduate students. The house is located in the same area and shares a similar atmosphere as the other house, Schaefer said. 

“We all bonded by studying for the LSAT together and talking about the work we were doing,” Schaefer said. “It was very good to have that community.”

Babcock said she’d recommend a summer in D.C. to everyone. 

“I think Hillsdale in D.C. is such a strong place of alumni networking with so many previous Hillsdale students,” Babcock said. “It is really good for your career long term.”

The personal and professional growth of interning in D.C. is not limited to certain majors, but serves to help grow students on individual levels, Minning said. 

“I think everybody, if you have the means to do it, should go to a major city and be on your own at least once,” Mining said. “It was very formative for me.”