As part of our ongoing series this summer on student internships, Lindsay Cutler (class of 2012) is happy to share her own story of internships during her time as an American Studies major at UMW. She also discusses her steps in coursework and career-building since graduation in her letter below. Many thanks, Lindsay!
“As a student at Mary Washington, I was able to develop my personal passion for American Indian history and policy through the History and American Studies Department interdisciplinary course offerings. In the summer of 2011, I had the unique opportunity to attend Sinte Gleska, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal College on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. I completed courses in the Lakota Studies Department and completed a senior research project on contemporary cultural politics, for which I interacted directly with University faculty and Rosebud Tribal Leadership.
When I returned to Mary Washington in the fall of 2011, I was awarded an Office of Undergraduate Research grant for my senior American Studies thesis to travel to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Connecticut. My research and thesis examined the relationship between the politics tribal gaming at the Foxwoods Casino and Mashantucket Pequot cultural identity.
In my final semester at Mary Washington, I was able to directly pursue my academic background and passions through an internship with the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC. As a communications intern with the newly formed policy program, I drafted and edited Center publications and letters, connected with American Indian initiatives and programs across the country, and assisted with general program development.”
I am currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer on the Laguna Pueblo in Laguna, New Mexico with the Elev8 New Mexico grassroots community schools initiative. I hope to further pursue my interest in Native American policy by attending law school in the fall of 2014 with a focus on American Indian law and public health.”
This summer, we’ll be introducing History and American Studies students and alums who are currently engaged in internships or who have held internships in the past. The series will answer simple but important questions: Where are they interning? What kinds of projects are they exploring? And how have internships helped students build a career after college?