Liberal Arts Voices

Read the perspectives of our current students

A New Internship in Washington D.C.

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Reagan Building
Originally uploaded by M.V. Jantzen

This past summer I interned at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., a non-partisan public policy think-tank. Having previously interned in the Senate for eight months, I was eager for the opportunity to work for a non-governmental organization. While this internship was drastically different than my experience in the Senate, it was equally as valuable, demanding, and exciting.

Before I discuss my experiences let me first introduce myself. My name is Nicholas Lewis and I am currently at Junior at The Pennsylvania State University majoring in Political Science with a minor in History. I am a Paterno Fellow as well as a member of the Schreyer’s Honors College. I have both American and British citizenship and I previously lived in London, The Hague, and Luxembourg. In 2007 I moved to Washington, DC with my family to live in the United States for the first time. I quickly discovered that Washington, DC was a young and vibrant city that was full of life. I have a strong interest in international relations and U.S. government and was thrilled to find that most people in the city shared my enthusiasm for politics.

When I first moved to the United States in 2007, I had the extraordinary opportunity to intern for eight months in the-Senator Barack Obama’s congressional office before attending my freshman year at The Pennsylvania State University. That internship gave me my first real exposure to American history and politics, and with the Senator’s bid for the presidency, I soon realized I was experiencing a historic moment. I became passionate about how legislation works and about Congress’s role in formulating foreign policy. Because of my interest in foreign affairs, I worked with both the legislative aide and legislative correspondent for foreign affairs. My duties ranged from managing the phones and mail to taking notes at official congressional hearing.

After my sophomore year at college I knew I wanted to intern in Washington DC again. I was accepted to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The center supports a full spectrum of academics that research, study, and discuss national and world affairs. I was assigned to work with two different scholars, one who was writing a detailed biography of Edward M. Kennedy and the other who was writing about the life of Barbara Jordan. The internship was particularly exciting and motivating. On a daily basis I would travel between the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Senate Historical Archives. The internship was unpaid but the experience was invaluable.

I look forward to writing more about my experience at the Woodrow Wilson Center soon. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about either of my internships in Washington, D.C.

Exploring Law: Trial Run

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Lewis Katz Building
Originally uploaded by Penn State Law

I, along with about 35 other Penn State undergrads with majors ranging from English to Electrical Engineering, participated in Penn State Law’s second annual Explore Law program held May 15-20, 2011 in the Katz building. This program is designed for students who are interested in possibly pursuing futures in Law to gain insight into what it means to be a Law student and eventually an attorney. Before the program even started, we had homework assignments–these assignments were (1) a personal statement for admission to Law School, (2) a practice LSAT essay exam, and (3) reading five different cases and writing “briefs” for them. When I saw these assignments, I knew I was going to be in for a rigorous week at law school camp!

Throughout the span of the program, I was consistently impressed with the lineup of presentations, panelists, and activities that kept us busy from 9 am to 5 pm (just like in real Law School). Much of the days’ presentations featured Law Professors, Deans, Attorneys, and Judges who spoke about their professional specialties as well as their career paths and experiences in the field of Law. While that may seem to be a monotonous way to spend each day, it definitely was not. Not only did their stories inspire me (let me tell you, these people are successful with a capital S), but I enjoyed the honest and candid testimonials about their journeys. Each presenter shared their successes, but also took time to highlight the many challenges they faced along the way. For instance, they noted several difficulties of Law School such as professors’ use of the Socratic Method, emphasis on analytical reasoning, the competitive atmosphere, and long lonely hours reading and studying, to name a few. Despite the challenges, each professional who spoke was very happy in their career and could also highlight many joyful times in Law School and afterward. Throughout the week, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that not all Law graduates take the same path; not every graduate ends up in courtrooms or works in a large firm in a high pressure setting. Many different people spoke to us throughout the week from all different paths; we heard from Law students and professors (legal writing, torts, and criminal procedure), Litigators, Judges, Deans, Transactional Lawyers, and Academic Advisors in the Law School. Hearing the diverse perspectives reinforced the claim that you can do a lot of different things with a J.D.

When we weren’t listening to those very informational presentations, we were engaged in mock classes and workshops. We took two mock Law classes, one on “torts” and the other on criminal procedure. Those are two “1L” classes that are prescribed in the first year of Law School. In our Case Briefing Workshops, we worked on the briefs that we submitted as early homework assignments which were then used in the mock classes we participated in. One of my favorite activities was the “Lawyer Simulation Exercise,” which was a simulation in negotiation and conflict management. Professors Welsh and Shea gave a presentation on the work of lawyers as “negotiators” in contracts and other deals, and the Law School campers participated in a simulation which I really enjoyed–maybe it’s the Resident Assistant in me who loves managing conflict! Our final, big activity was the Litigation Workshop, or “mock trial,” where we all got to play a part in a classic slip-and-fall” case. Some of us were lawyers, some judges and jurors, and the rest witnesses (plaintiffs or defendants/appellants/appellees). This activity was a lot of fun, and we got to work together in groups based on our roles. For example, I was the “witness” Danielle Fox, who was also the plaintiff. I had two lawyers (for two separate trials), so I was able to work with those students on my direct examination. It was a lot of fun! After our trials were over, real lawyers stepped into the student lawyers’ shoes and performed direct and cross examinations of the same case. It was amazing to see them do what they do best!

Some other things that were discussed throughout the week were of course admissions and logistical questions about the LSAT, percentiles, transcripts, and financial aid, as well as information on joint degree programs and career services information. We were also given a personal tour of the Katz building and we got to hang out with two Penn State Law students–one who just finished her first year and the other who is now a graduate!

All in all, I am so glad I participated in this program. It gave me wonderful insight into life as a law student and to where a degree in Law can take a person in their career. I initially wanted to participate in Explore Law for just that–to explore the possibilities of Law, and this program definitely enhanced my knowledge of the experience. Not only was I surrounded by 34 other super ambitious undergraduate students, but I got to meet and mingle with some highly impressive lawyers, judges, and professors to talk about Law. The days were definitely long and the homework was not easy (at least for a student not accustomed to that kind of homework), but that helped make the week’s activities more realistic and useful. For now, my future plans are not concrete, however Law School is most definitely in the mix of potential pathways to pursue and because of Explore Law I no longer feel quite as lost as to what that means. I highly encourage other students to apply for this program next year. Information can be found on Penn State Law’s website.

Many thanks to Professor Michele Vollmer at Penn State Law for coordinating and facilitating the whole program. She did a wonderful job!

High Schooler Challenges the Internet Generation

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On April 8th, the Composition Program held its banquet for the Annual Pennsylvania High School Writing Contest. It’s now in its 29th year! We recognized 20 students: 17 finalists and the top 3. The winner was Joy Wang, a student from Council Rock High School, South, which is in Holland, PA.

The essay question this year was on globalization and the Internet:


In “Global Village Idiocy,”New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman provides a relatively pessimistic view of how the Internet affects users, especially in an age of extended social relationships. Based on your personal experiences, what is your take on his arguments and on the global dimensions of the Internet? Do your experiences, views, and opinions align with those of Friedman? Have your experiences been more positive? If global networks are here to stay, and they appear to be, how might we use them for learning, community building, and other productive purposes? In your response, (1) describe and evaluate your experiences with the Internet and (2) explain how the Internet has assisted you in becoming a member of a more global community, or has failed to live up to its potential to do so. Use your personal experience with school, community service, and other programs to illustrate and support your points.

This was a challenging question, which Joy handled expertly in her thoughtful, insightful response.
Professor Stuart Selber

Below is a post Joyce has written for LAUS@PSU about the essay she wrote:

Hello everyone, guest blogger here. I’m Joy Wang, a junior at Council Rock High School South. And you may ask, with good reason, “Joy, why are you writing for the LAUS blog?” It’s a long story that starts with an essay contest, of all things–the one that Penn State’s composition department runs for high school juniors.

So on a frosty day in December, I was locked in a computer lab with two other juniors from my school and was told to agree, disagree, or qualify a prompt which included an article by the New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, that ran in 2002, titled “Global Village Idiocy.” My essay, entitled “Information Overload: Skepticism and Social Organization in the Internet Era,” was apparently sufficiently ingenious to catch some reader’s eye for a reason I’ve yet to discern.

In any case, the thesis of Friedman’s argument is this: That the internet, however convenient and accessible, has fundamentally become a force for polarization and misunderstanding rather than a catalyst for harmony and societal interaction. A bold claim, to be sure, but one that has some traction given the horror and blind stupidity of the dregs of internet forums and comment threads. (For a particularly telling cross-section of these internet denizens, I recommend the comment section on CNN.)

The luxury of near-complete anonymity, Friedman argues, has brought out the virulent haters, the extremists, the fringe elements of our society who would have otherwise remained isolated, quarantined from the rest of the world by the analog divide. And this is not untrue–but it’s only half of the story.

I’m not really all that big on the Internet. I keep an email account that I check religiously, and I follow a couple of news outlets online. Webcomics are my guilty pleasure. But other than that, there’s no Facebook, no Twitter. I’m not interested in the sordid details of the lives of a host of casual acquaintances nor do I need to read the inane mental diarrhea of the world’s self-perceived rich, famous, and important. Social networking, in case it weren’t already clear enough, holds no appeal to me. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the Internet has become a powerful force for good as well.

I cited the death of Neda Agha-Soltan in the street protests that followed the Iranian elections of 2009. Her death, captured on video, became a rallying cry for the Iranian people in the wake of brutal government crackdowns. Little did I know or anticipate any of the events in the Middle East that would occur a little over a week after I wrote my essay. The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010 in Tunisia has since then sparked a series of protests and revolutions that has spread throughout the Arab world to Egypt and Libya, Syria and Bahrain. Unsurprisingly, social networking and the Internet have played a critical role in these revolutions even more directly than it did in Iran two years ago.

In Egypt, for example, the We Are All Khaled Said movement, a Facebook-based dissident network and protest group started by Google executive Wael Ghonim, was formed to mourn and decry the senseless beating at the hands of Egyptian authorities that led to Said’s death. In the days after the initial revolution, Egypt’s government even tried to shut down all Internet access–a clear indicator of exactly how important of a role the Internet itself played in the organization of this popular revolt. In truth, even before there was the spark of revolution in Tunisia that touched off the dry tinder of the Arab world’s underrepresented class, there were the rumblings of discontent and social activism on the Internet.

As it stands, the last paragraph of my essay still has as much resonance as it did when I first typed it almost five months ago:

The world has changed drastically in the past twenty years, in no small part because of the Internet and all its trappings, both good and bad. But in the end, the Internet–like any other technology–is only a tool. Just like the use of nuclear fission in bombs and power plants can both kill and sustain (respectively), so too can the Internet breed both hatred and hope. In the end, it is the actions that its users choose to take that will determine history’s ultimate verdict. Which road shall we take? In the years to come–in the generations that follow–will the Internet be known as the technology that forged a better world, or the one that tore it asunder?

We are the Internet generation. Where do you think this brave new world will lead?

Joy Wang

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