From the Classroom to the Nation's Capital
Misri Shah arrived in Washington, D.C., with a goal that sounded simple: She wanted to become better at having conversations.
As an international student from India studying political science and finance at Purdue through the Degree Plus program, Shah was interested in current events and public affairs, but she didn't always feel confident jumping into conversations about them. A summer working at C-SPAN would put that confidence to the test.
By the end of it, she wasn't standing on the sidelines.
Shah had helped support coverage of a major congressional hearing, researched public officials for national programming and taken ownership of a daily C-SPAN newsletter, reaching tens of thousands of subscribers.
“I felt like I was part of the team,” Shah said. “They were giving me actual work that people in full time positions would do.”
Across Washington, fellow College of Liberal Arts students Jacob Mullen and Jacob Dowd were having experiences of their own.
At 19, Mullen found himself representing the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia at community events, listening to residents and working alongside professionals from across the federal government.
Dowd, a physics and philosophy double major, spent the summer in the office of U.S. Sen. Todd Young, answering constituent calls, leading Capitol Hill tours and researching topics for the legislative team.
These were opportunities the students couldn't replicate in a classroom. But once they got there, they discovered the skills they had developed in those classrooms had prepared them to step up.
Ready for the opportunity
Mullen, who is pursuing political science and aviation management through Degree Plus, spent much of his internship outside the office.
Working in public affairs and community outreach, he met with D.C. residents and federal law enforcement partners, wrote press releases and helped educate older adults about scams targeting them.
The responsibility required more than knowing how an office operated. Mullen had to listen carefully, communicate professionally and understand how to represent an organization when speaking with people whose experiences and concerns differed.
Those were skills he recognized from Purdue.
“I don't think without Purdue and the CLA classes I've taken, I would have been able to do that as successfully,” Mullen said.
Dowd found himself relying heavily on his philosophy education.
His work included attending hearings, conducting research and writing memos for legislative staff. The work required him to sort through complex information, consider different perspectives and communicate his conclusions clearly, skills he had practiced repeatedly as a philosophy student.
“In a philosophy class, you read and you write and you train yourself to think clearly,” Dowd said. “I think this is applicable pretty much anywhere.”
For Shah, Purdue's preparation showed up in a different way.
She remembers arriving at Purdue as a first-year student and repeatedly hearing that she needed to network.
“I was like, I agree, I want to network. What is networking?” she recalled.
Over the next three years, classes, mentors and student organizations gave her practice reaching out to professors, alumni and professionals. By the time she reached Washington, she was entering meetings with C-SPAN leaders and connecting with Purdue alumni throughout the city.
The skill she once didn't know how to approach had become one she could rely on.
Finding out what's possible
The internships also gave Mullen and Shah room to test ideas about their futures.
Mullen entered the summer convinced he would attend law school. Conversations with attorneys and other professionals showed him how many careers exist at the intersection of his interests in law, aviation and public service.
“I really want to be someone that's dedicated to public service,” Mullen said. “Talking with attorneys and other professionals showed me how many different career paths there are where I can combine law and public service and still make an impact.”
Shah's time at C-SPAN affirmed her interest in law but added another possibility. Working inside a media organization strengthened her interest in journalism, communication and the behind-the-scenes work required to bring information to an audience.
For Dowd, the experience changed his plans entirely.
He arrived in Washington on the pre-med track. But through his internship, conversations with professionals and time considering what kind of work best matched his interests and strengths, he realized law was a better fit.
“I think I realized kind of that my personality is just better suited towards law than medicine,” Dowd said.
He returned to Purdue on the pre-law track, but also with less pressure to have every step of his future mapped out.
“You can explore more than you think you can explore,” Dowd said.
Those discoveries extended beyond the students' individual internships.
Shah, Mullen and Dowd participated in the Boilers Go to D.C. Summer Scholars Internship Program, created by the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement (CCSE) in the Brian Lamb School of Communication. Students earn course credit while spending the summer interning in Washington and participating in programming designed to connect their professional experiences with their education.
For Shah, that meant arriving in Washington already knowing she had people to rely on. For Mullen, it meant being paired with a Purdue alumnus who could offer advice from outside his internship and meeting graduates who had once been students trying to figure out their own next steps.
Dowd also worked with a faculty adviser on a capstone project, giving him another opportunity to connect the ideas he was studying at Purdue with what he was experiencing firsthand in Washington.
The program is also part of the broader Purdue @ D.C. initiative, which connects students, faculty and alumni with opportunities in the nation's capital.
The result for these three students was more than a summer away from West Lafayette. It was an opportunity to test their skills in professional environments, learn from people already doing the work and begin seeing possibilities for themselves they hadn't considered before.
And when those opportunities arrived, they were ready for them.