The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC) welcomed nearly 500 interns to Washington, D.C. during their two-day fall orientation on August 30th and 31st at the Residential and Academic Facility (RAF). The first day kicked off with the interns being formally introduced to their TWC program advisors and participating in program activities such as a U.S. Capitol tour and National Portrait Gallery exhibit. TWC President Mike Smith visited with various programs to start meeting students.

The fourth day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) academic seminar was filled with notable speakers, a reception and a renowned panel of North Carolina figureheads and major political power players.

The day began with programming at The Blake Hotel in Charlotte, which included speakers such as Tim Funk, Politics Reporter for the Charlotte Observer, and Israel Balderas, News Anchor for Fox TV Charlotte.

Summer interns from the Science, Technology and Society (STS) program presented their research findings via abstract posters at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters located in Silver Spring, MD. The interns displayed their abstracts by concisely describing the objectives, methods, results and conclusions that the Abstract Committee evaluated on both the quality of the intern’s work throughout the semester as well as the verbal presentation. Each student was required to detail:

This summer over 50 TWC students reached out to immigrants in the metropolitan Washington area tutoring young Ethiopians and Latinos, helping Latin American domestic violence victims obtain visas and volunteering at a Hispanic festival.

They were all participants of the Immigrant Rights Civic Engagement project. The education component included presentations by speakers from the Asian, Latino and African immigrant communities as well as an expert on immigration policy.

From June 16-July 14, TWC welcomed a group of Puerto Rican educators as a part of the annual Pilar Barbosa Program. The group comprised of 25 K-12 public school teachers and administrators brought to Washington, D.C. to learn about federal educational policy, innovative curriculum design and other topics that enhanced the skills of the educators as both leaders in the classroom and advocates for their students.

Summer 2012 interns at TWC were given the opportunity to attend an unusual event on the Middle East, hearing from four very different voices than those regularly heard at Washington forums.

The last meeting of the Animal Welfare Civic Engagement Project featured Shakela Brown, community educator at the Washington Humane Society, and her German Shepherd, Ryder.

The Boston Alumni Regional Committee (ARC) hosted their fourth annual networking happy hour and Boston Red Sox game on Thursday, July 19th.  Over 40 Washington Center alumni from the Boston, Massachusetts area gathered for an evening of food, drinks, networking and of course: BASEBALL!

Daryl Popper, 2008 alumnus and coordinator of the event said: “It was wonderful making connections with new and familiar faces. I look forward to keeping this tradition alive for years to come and look forward to next year's annual gathering at Fenway.”

TWC welcomed another class of alumni to their family of over 50,000 worldwide during summer 2012 commencement, which took place at the Blinken Auditorium.

Celebrating TWC's 50,000 Alumni

Summer 2012 interns were given the exclusive opportunity to attend a White House panel, hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement, that discussed policy and other initiatives regarding President Obama's Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) on sub-Saharan Africa.