If I were to describe this past summer in one word, it would be different. Over the past two months, I have worked, studied, and lived in our nation’s capital through The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) program. This opportunity allowed me to grow extraordinarily, meet highly respected people, and learn new skills and new ideologies that will help shape my future career.
Coming from a conservative, Catholic background and having attended an all-boys Catholic high school in Pennsylvania, I never really had the opportunity to talk to that many people who were different from me. All my friends thought like me, looked like me, and acted like me. This program, though, introduced me to various views. I have had great conversations with people from all walks of life, which has led me to become more open-minded, as some people say, but rather, enlightened to the usefulness of seeing problems and their potential solutions through the lenses of those who think, act, and look differently from me.
After the first couple of days of settling in, my internship officially began. As I walked into The Daily Caller building that morning, excitement graced my spirit. I was nervous, yet eager to achieve and become a part of an organization. I started out working as an editorial intern for The Daily Caller— writing pieces about concepts and ideas that resonated with the conservative populace of the United States and Republicans in general. I hated it. Within the first week of my internship, I reached out to a man at my company asking if I could transition to his sales team. Within the next week, my spark, drive, and love of working quickly returned. If you would have told me three months ago that I would be working in sales for a news organization, instead of writing, I would have called you insane. The truth is, though, I loved it. The Daily Caller introduced me to something I never would have thought to be a potential career path of mine, but the feeling I got when I sat down in that chair and did something I genuinely enjoyed was invaluable to me.
Even though I was interning, I was also enrolled in two courses: American Foreign Policy and Economic Problems and Public Policy Solutions. I loved these classes. Both were taught by extremely well-versed professors, Dr. Milorad Lazic and Dr. Christopher Coyne. Dr. Lazic came to class each day with an eagerness to share his passion for history and love of the United States.
Dr. Coyne always arrived with a professional tone and immense knowledge of the socioeconomic world. These two classes reinvigorated my learning spirit and captured my attention in ways I thought had been lost. Through in-class discussion, policy memo writing, AI conversation-based papers, and thorough examinations, I cultivated a passion for learning that I never had before.
Outside of class, I found myself participating in many TFAS sessions. One of my favorites was Braver Angels Dialogue, an argument-based event where two sides spar over a hot topic. On top of that, I was fortunate enough to tour Fox News, see the White House, attend a House Briefing session on Capitol Hill, and explore D.C. for all it has to offer. TFAS made networking in D.C., the city of networking, even easier than it already is. That may be quite the feat on its own.
I can safely say that if one goes into this program wanting to experience new and different things, view unique perspectives, and debate conflicting views, they will get a lot out of it. That’s what it is all about: experience.