Emily Dann

Political Science, Law & Society

Migrant Legal Aid

How has your internship helped build your skills and clarify your career goals?

This internship allowed me to work hand in hand with attorneys that have a passion for helping others. The firm that I worked for is a non-profit that serves migrant seasonal farmworkers in West Michigan. For half of the week I was working in the office learning how to do legal work and process different legal documents. The other half of the week I was working "outreach" which consisted of traveling to migrant labor camps and talking to the workers to see if there was anything we could do to help them. We work with cases of wage theft, human trafficking, child labor, immigration, and other various legal issues. I learned that not only do I definitely want to become an attorney, but I want to do work that is focused on helping marginalized groups.

How do you apply your Liberal Arts skills in your internship?

I have applied not only the strictly academic parts of my studies but also the interactions I have had at Purdue to my internship. I have a minor in Human Rights and I used a lot of what I have learned in those classes throughout this summer. I worked with very difficult and upsetting cases this summer and I really do believe that my Liberal Arts studies made that possible.

How did you learn about this opportunity?

I learned about it from a contact from my internship from last summer.