comments from some of our past interns

PAST AAU INTERN COMMENTSChristian from University of California, Berkeley “I found my internship to bevery valuable. Having worked on the Hill last summer, I wanted an opportunity tosee federal relations from a different perspective. I enjoyed the opportunity tolearn about specific issues and to learn more about strategy.” “I enjoyed being ableto go to meetings and hearings on the Hill, and see the different people that workedon the same issues (from industry to scientific societies to other higher educationassociations).” “I did not anticipate the breadth of topics that I would learn about.I really had an opportunity to learn about issues and create something with theresearch that I did. I felt that my opinion was valued in this environment.”Ben from Syracuse University “It was a valuable experience for me, because Igot to take an in-depth look at higher education and how the association works. Iwas also able to work on meaningful assignments and get to the Hill.”Stephanie from University of California, Los Angeles “I really appreciate theopportunity and experience that AAU has given me. I initially was decidingbetween internships, and I believe I made the right decision. Everyone was veryfriendly and made me feel comfortable working here. That is important coming inas someone new and trying to understand the organization. I also feel that I havelearned a lot and that I have gained some new tools I can take with me to futurecareers and opportunities. Those are the only things I wanted from an internship:friendly staff and meaningful experience. Thank you for everything!”Marcus from University of California, Davis “Having read an evaluation from aprevious UCD student, I already knew that it was a good internship. In many ways,though, it exceeded my expectations. At times I really felt like the internshipprogram exists more to benefit the intern than the organization itself, which issupposed to be very rare. It wasn’t like the projects I was working on were useless,but it did seem like the overall experience was much more beneficial to me than itwas to the AAU. Still, it was the perfect balance because I did feel like I madesubstantive contributions to the organization that I could be proud of.”Meegan from University of California, Berkeley: “My experience at AAU wasextremely invaluable: I was surprised to be treated as a colleague rather than an

intern, and this really helped me feel like an adult working in DC. In creating thesoldier graphic for Toby, for example, I had the opportunity to speak with the chiefscientists of the Army and the Air Force, and it was exciting to see that theyrespected my work and were happy to help. At the same time, working with Mattwas invaluable because he really taught me the art of government relations. By theend of this internship, I was much better at crafting convincing argumentsarticulately.”