The Washington Program in National Issues (WPNI) is more than your average internship program. Each spring, a cohort of roughly 20 Kent State juniors and seniors heads to Washington, D.C., to participate in a variety of internships.
Students from all majors are encouraged to apply, from journalism to mathematics. WPNI helps students secure internships in a variety of areas including government agencies, nonprofits or news organizations, among others.
While completing this internship, students also partake in a public policy seminar with WPNI Program Director Mark Cassell, Ph.D. Through both of these aspects, students complete a full 15-credit-hour semester.
The third element of WPNI is a look into professional development and networking. This is done through meetings and briefings with industry professionals across the Washington, D.C., area. Over the years, students have learned from members of the CIA, members of Congress, journalists and more to better understand politics and the United States government from every avenue.
Students also build close relationships with Kent State alumni through mentorships and group outings to explore the D.C. area. Alumni host sessions for the students throughout their semester about writing a résumé, applying to graduate school or how to find jobs.
For Cassell, WPNI is the most important bridge at Kent State for connecting what students do in the classroom to the labor market they’ll enter after graduation.
“Over the course of a semester, we schedule six to seven workshops with alumni around a whole set of professional development topics,” said Cassell. “In addition, the class itself is supplemented with briefings that are held with policy experts.”
These briefings cover topics to cater to the interests of every student and range anywhere from healthcare policy to criminal justice.
WPNI celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
WPNI’s story begins in 1939 with Fran Richardson, the first woman to graduate from Kent State University with a degree in journalism.
Years after leaving Kent State, Richardson wanted to find a way to stay connected with her university. She piloted a program that would connect Kent State students to the vast career opportunities in the Washington, D.C., area.
Thus, the Washington Program in National Issues was born in 1973.
Now, 50 years later, WPNI has about 1,000 alumni and that network continues to grow.
One alumni, Matthew Dermody, credits WPNI as the reason he has a career he loves today. A New York native, Dermody attended Kent State and participated in the Washington program the spring semester of his senior year. He hasn’t left the Washington, D.C., area since.
“I ended up getting a lot out of that internship, seeing how the legislative process actually works,” Dermody said. “The role that staff play in making an office function, how they support a congressman or senator, the committee processes, things like that. I was able to learn a lot from that internship.”
As an international relations major at Kent State, Dermody never saw himself working in domestic politics. However, during his time with WPNI, he interned on Capitol Hill for his local senator.
Along with an internship he loved, Dermody also found a community of Kent State alumni ready to welcome him to the Washington, D.C., area.
Dermody is president of the National Capital Chapter of Kent State Alumni. Through this position, he works with a slew of other alumni to provide the same experience to today’s WPNI participants that he received.
From the day students arrive, to the time they graduate from the program, alumni are there to mentor and guide them through the experience.
Throughout the WPNI semester, alumni will hold workshops to discuss everything from living in the Washington, D.C., area, to résumé building and how to apply to graduate school.
“One of the things we do that we always love is we will go to the grocery store before students arrive and get them a bag of starter groceries to get through their first day here,” Dermody said. “The look on the faces of students and parents when they see it is really gratifying. I appreciated that an alumni did that for me when I was a student, so we’ve made it a priority to continue.”
The opportunity to network with alumni and industry professionals across Washington, D.C., is another part of what makes WPNI so unique.
“You’re in a setting where you are constantly exposed to opportunities, so you know it may be the person you talk to at a networking event, or even who you sit next to on the Metro that mentions a job,” Cassell said. “It may not be that the person has a job in D.C., it might be in California or New York. But you get it because you’re here.”
Emma MacNiven, a fourth-year journalism major from Louisville, Kentucky, says the most rewarding piece of WPNI is the community and connections you build.
Whether she’s in her internship, networking with Kent State alumni, or getting to know her peers in WPNI, MacNiven feels lucky to have such a supportive community around her.
Knowing she wanted to one day pursue a career as a reporter for print media, MacNiven explored the different options Kent State offered her.
“I decided to do WPNI because there were opportunities that pertained to my goals both now and in the future,” she said. “I wanted to get the experience of living away from Kent while furthering my career goals in journalism in the very place where history takes place.”
WPNI offers students the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of a desired career path, while also learning and growing in the heart of our nation’s capital. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of WPNI, we are also celebrating the lasting connections that Kent State students are making with one another, as well as with alumni and career professionals.
“The 50th anniversary celebrates the Washington Program in National Issues, but it really in a lot of ways celebrates the relationship between Kent State University and the graduates of Kent State,” Cassell said. “It’s a nice way to celebrate that relationship.”
For more information on the Washington Program in National Issues, please visit https://www.kent.edu/wpni.