Last week, we said goodbye to two of our interns from the University of St. Thomas: Mallory Patrow and Kelsea Kern, both now graduated from St. Thomas with a degree in political science. During the past school year, Mallory and Kelsea played an instrumental role in assisting Policy Director Pahoua Hoffman, as well as working with Executive Director Sean Kershaw. Their work on our recent transit project was vital in the committee’s success in coming up with recommendations regarding transit governance, policy and funding.
Sean Kershaw, top, visits St. Thomas to present ‘Quantum Civics’, a new method of policymaking. Mallory Patrow, bottm left, and Kelsea Kern, bottom right, interned with the Citizens League during the 2016-2017 school year. Photo credit: University of St. Thomas.
The Citizens League is concluding a second year in partnership with the University of St. Thomas, which includes the placement of two political science majors as interns within our organization. Stemming from conversations first initiated by Citizens League Board Member, and St. Thomas alum, Jim Nikolai, this partnership has become a great boon to the League, as well as St. Thomas. The interns get hands-on experience with our policy work, and are a tremendous source of support on many fronts.
As Dr. Angela High-Pippert writes for St. Thomas, “While the students often referred to this internship as a front row seat to the policymaking process they learned about in their classes, I thought of it more as a seat at the table.”
Congrats to Mallory and Kelsea on their graduation, and many thanks for their work this past year! Thanks also to our fantastic partners at the University of St. Thomas.