PACON Internship Grant Awards – Public Affairs Conversation

Students have found internships and secured funding from the PACON Internship Grant in various roles and sectors. Ranging from political campaigns, non-profits, government agencies, media companies, PACON students have found various ways to supplement their PACON education in the real world of public affairs.

Ava Bowman ’21

“Interning with Women Winning gave me the opportunity to meet so many women leading the way in Minnesota politics. Through the program I was able to attend multiple training sessions about campaigning and policy-making, and put these new skills to the test. Working on Mitra Jalali’s St. Paul city council campaign was an amazing way to learn about local politics and improve my communication skills, all while working for a candidate I believed in. The experience as a whole was very empowering, and I’ll definitely be calling upon the skills I learned and people I met as I continue working in politics in the future.”

Brendan Connolly ’21

“During the summer of 2020, I interned with the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) as an Economics and Public Policy Research Intern and Evan Guthrie Law Firm as a Contributing Writer. With SIWI, I was able to work on a project evaluating the costs and benefits of combating antimicrobial resistance through improving the sustainability of antibiotic manufacturing. With Evan Guthrie Law Firm, I wrote independent legal research articles on current events that were published on his national undergraduate pre-law website, Prelaw Land. Both of these experiences strengthened research and writing skills, while broadening my understanding of public affairs. By combining these two internship experiences, I was able to maximize the funding from the PACON Internship Grant.”

Anna Clements ’22

“Over the summer and fall of 2020, I interned remotely at the Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization based in Seattle. In addition to having an opportunity to apply the concepts and history that I learned in PACON to a practical experience, I was also able to reflect deeply on the political role that nonprofit organizations fill in the United States, and how that compares with the effect that I ultimately want to have in my career. The experience gave me the tools to think critically about whose interests are served by different kinds of work, and how I can align my future career with my political consciousness.”

Past employers include: