Heritage’s Summer 2008 Internship Program
October 9, 2008| By The Heritage Foundation
"Let the American youth never forget that they posses a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capable, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty…and independence."
— Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, from Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States
Introduction: Preparing Young Conservatives to Lead
Justice Story describes in his statement above the need for careful stewardship of our nation's most sacred ideals and traditions. This "noble inheritance" must be passed down to future generations, and this daunting task falls to America's youth.
But absent principled teaching about America's foundations from their elders, our nation's youth will lack the knowledge and ideals that would enable them to uphold the traditions that have made our nation strong and great. More importantly, our younger generations will lack the passion they would need to lead when it was their chance to do so.
As they near adulthood, America's young people desperately need a proper grounding in their country's founding principles and ideals. Without this knowledge, our future leaders will be rudderless when it is their turn to navigate our nation toward what is right.
In 1979, to ensure that America's youth would become principled policy-makers and leaders, The Heritage Foundation organized an Internship Program, a curriculum that equips young people with a solid understanding of the fundamental ideals of our republic, and with the knowledge and experience they need in order to apply those principles to the problems of today. We want to create a strong and lasting coalition of like-minded people who will defend our principles and win the policy debates of the future.
Through a rigorous program of study composed of seminars, briefings, training sessions, events, field-trips, and hands-on experience, The Heritage Foundation's Internship Program strives to prepare young leaders to influence and promote the ideals of free enterprise, limited government, traditional American values, and a strong national defense, whether their future careers are in government, the academic world, or the private sector.
The Heritage Summer 2008 Interns
The Heritage Internship Program is extremely competitive, and our summer intern hopefuls are often the most talented applicants among all who garner internships each year in the nation's capital. The New York Times has called our interns "an elite corps inside the capital's premier conservative research group." For the summer 2008 session, we received 278 applications from top-ranking students in the United States and around the world. We accepted only 68 to be Heritage interns.
Members of the 2008 summer intern class proved their competitive edge both inside and outside the classroom. They carried an average GPA of 3.5 and came to Heritage eager to broaden their already impressive skill sets and to learn how to apply these talents to public policy.
So, we put them to work. And when we say work, we mean it. Heritage Interns do not just fetch coffee, make copies, or run tedious errands. They are given substantive work and are treated as full members of the Heritage team. We place great trust in these bright young stars, and understand that if they are to advance conservative ideals – our ideals – they must receive practical, hands-on experience that they can apply in their future jobs.
Within days of their arrival, we had introduced each of our Summer Interns to their supervising policy experts, and helped them get moving on exciting new projects.
Working to Learn
Soon after they step through our doors, Heritage interns are each assigned rewarding projects specifically tailored to their interests. These projects allow them to become more familiar with Heritage's work, to gain comprehensive knowledge of a particular public policy issue, and to take with them professional lessons to be used throughout their careers.
Here are a few examples of their work:
- Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom Intern Jordan Pauluhn helped Thatcher Center Fellow Steven Groves write a Heritage Backgrounder which takes the United Nations to task. Groves and Pauluhn's work emphasizes that the U.N. has no jurisdiction to tell sovereign nations like the United States how to govern.
- Christine Cheatum, an intern for our External Relations department, wrote speeches for Vice President Becky Norton Dunlop on the subjects of energy, poverty, and patriotism, for events Dunlop attended focused on expanding the conservative movement.
- A "major highlight," in his words, of Online Communications Intern Tony Listi's experience, was the opportunity to participate in a focus group with Heritage President Ed Feulner. The purpose of the focus group was to discuss how Heritage can better reach out to college students when promoting its policy research. According to Listi, Feulner spent "an entire hour asking us questions and listening to our perspectives about the political inclinations and habits of young people, as well as how to best attract them to the conservative cause in the future."
As you can see from the caliber of the 2008 Summer Interns' projects, Heritage interns have a chance to directly shape public policy development and promotion, and the future of America. These projects also offer insight into the proper role of government and instill in our interns a solid respect for America's first principles. This respect is deepened by one of our internship program's most important educational tools, our First Principles Lecture Series.
Learning the Basics: America's First Principles
In addition to tackling worthwhile projects, our interns attend a weekly series of critically important luncheon lectures and discussions whose purpose is to educate them on America's founding principles and the role these ideals should play in modern policy-making. It is simply not enough for these youngsters to have a solid understanding of the ideals themselves – our interns need to know why America's first principles matter, and how they apply to today's public policy conundrums. The lessons drawn from these lectures will significantly shape how these young conservative students view the role of government in our daily lives.
Perhaps most crucial to our interns' learning experience is the interactive nature of the First Principles Lecture Series. At the end of each presentation, interns are encouraged to share their own thoughts, ask questions of the presenter, and engage in conversation about the topics at hand. According to our 2008 summer interns, these sessions proved to be some of the most fulfilling they experienced during their time at Heritage, since they were able to work through – idea by idea – many of the most important, foundational questions about public policy and American government.
Here's a list of topics from this summer's First Principles Lecture Series:
- First Principles and Why They Matter
- The Rule of Law and the Constitution
- Keeping the Republic: Civil Society and Religious Liberty
- Property, Prosperity, and Free Enterprise
- Securing Independence and Advancing Freedom
- The Future of Conservatism
- Second Thoughts on First Principles – How The Progressives Rejected The Founders' Teachings
- The New Deal and The Great Society – Did They Fit In With The Framers' Intent?
- The Modern Conservative Movement
- Post 1960s Liberalism – Cracking the Foundations America Was Built Upon
To supplement these lessons, we supplied our interns with books acclaimed as conservative classics and other shorter readings. The subject matter of these materials was aimed at enriching our summer interns' understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of the American republic. We helped to build their personal libraries by giving each of our interns a copy of The Law by Frederic Bastiat, The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich von Hayek, and The March of Freedom by Ed Feulner. In addition, our B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies – whose experts host the First Principles Lecture Series – provided interns with copies of A Patriot's History of the United States by Michael Allen and Larry Schweikart, The Founders' Almanac by B. Kenneth Simon Center Director Matthew Spalding, Common Sense Economics by James Gwartney, A Brief History of the Modern American Conservative Movement by Heritage Distinguished Fellow Lee Edwards, and others.
Providing Insight into Policy and Professionalism
At Heritage, we know that political philosophy can only take our interns so far in their professional careers. We understand that in order for our young stars to become successful policy-makers and leaders in the future, they need to have in-depth practical knowledge of how Washington works, as well as smart tips for navigating the professional arena.
That's why we make sure that our Intern Program trains its participants in proper professional etiquette, writing, resume preparation, and academic researching. Once equipped with these necessary proficiencies, we have them meet personally with some of the policy world's most powerful players, including Heritage's Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow and attorney general under President Reagan, Edwin Messe, III. The summer interns also received practical career advice from Christian Lown, executive director of the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley. In addition, they all attended training focused on strengthening their professional skills, such as public speaking and how to give a presentation.
We also believe it is useful to have our interns get to know Washington. The 2008 summer Interns enjoyed private tours of the White House, U.S. Capitol, and the Pentagon. This summer, they experienced a unique political drama when House Republicans stayed on the floor of the House of Representatives, despite the fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had closed off debate on the need for off-shore oil drilling and for a vote on the energy bill before Congress. When we heard what was happening, we sent our interns over for a scene they would never forget. They witnessed this historic, news-grabbing event in which a dozen-plus members refused to leave the House floor, and made their impassioned case for U.S. energy independence without microphones and in near-total darkness (microphones, cameras, and lights had been turned off).
Then our interns were ushered to the office of Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH, for the Conservative Bloggers Lunch, a weekly event hosted by Heritage. Eight congressmen offered their perspective on the scene our interns had just witnessed, as well as on Republican plans to alleviate America's current oil crisis. This field trip wound up not only showing our interns how Washington works, but gave them an example of political courage that will no doubt stay with them for years to come.
Intern Testimony
The most compelling testimony to the excellence of the Heritage Internship Program comes from the interns themselves. Below are just a few highlights of what the Summer 2008 Intern Class had to say about their time at Heritage:
"My own testament to how much Heritage appreciates their interns occurred when Mr. Meese welcomed his interns into his home for a summer picnic, which included all his staff and family. It isn't every day that the former attorney general for President Reagan welcomes you into his home and treats you like one of the family. This event, for me, captured the sense of community that The Heritage Foundation provides for young people who are entering the conservative movement, and how Heritage truly cares not only about their interns' formation as the leaders of tomorrow, but as people as well."
— Lianne Cottrell, B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies
"Perhaps the most memorable experience I've had this summer as a Heritage Intern was getting to visit the House floor during the "Republican standoff" over the latest energy bill, for which Speaker Pelosi refused to call a vote before the August recess. Witnessing these lawmakers' commitment to getting the bill passed and to begin off-shore drilling in order to free American oil was inspiring – especially considering that the House floor was darkened and without microphones. House members were speaking at length in front of the podium and projecting their speeches with only their lungs.
I am so grateful that The Heritage Foundation made it possible for us to go, and even encouraged us to do so. To watch our lawmakers truly stand up for what they believe in was a stirring bit of democracy to say the least, and I'll always be able to say 'I was there when...' "
— Gerrit Lansing, Center for Media and Public Policy
"My time at The Heritage Foundation as an intern in the Center for Health Policy Studies allowed me to help write a Heritage paper on the current status of health care reform in Massachusetts and to research Medicare's unfunded liabilities in states like California and New Jersey. This work has opened my eyes to the "real world" of public policy and taught me the importance of conservative public policy solutions for America."
— Trevor Shunk, Center for Health Policy Studies
"My first week as an intern, I was able to participate in a very exciting conference call. A top military official stationed in Afghanistan was calling from Kabul to report on the progress being made and the challenges still existing in the region. It was incredible to be on the phone with an American leader in that part of the world and to hear first-hand what was happening there."
— Lauren Jack, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies
Your Legacy
A bankrupt and ill-equipped military. An economy in ruins. An all-powerful federal government. We do not want these bleak outcomes to be our legacy to future generations.
To avoid them, today's young people must understand what is necessary to defend freedom and liberty. They must be taught that unless their generation makes a principled stand for what is right, the blessings our country has experienced could disappear.
This is why we created our Internship Program and it is why we've sent hundreds of young conservatives into the worlds of politics, public policy, journalism, law, and business. By investing in such a program, you are helping America to remain the beacon of freedom it has been for more than two centuries.
