Jessica Glazer, Associate Director of Career Programs & Education at John Hopkins Carey Business School, spoke to the Summer 2012 Professional Postgraduate Development Program (PPDP) on the topic of Positive Psychology and how the field can help both your career search and professional development. Positive Psychology is a very recent field discovered in 1998.

As part of the advocacy component of the Torture Abolition Civic Engagement Project, 40 TWC summer interns and 10 torture survivors spoke out against torture on Capitol Hill. The Torture Abolition Civic Engagement Project is organized by The Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition (TASSC). TASSC is the only organization founded by and for torture survivors to end torture and empower survivors and their communities. Interns received extensive training by TASSC, which is also a long-time TWC internship host.

Dr. Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), spoke to the Business and Global Trade Program at TWC's Residential Academic Facility. He provided an update on the economic status of the manufacturing industry and the high demand for skilled employees. He encouraged interested TWC students to look into high-skilled trade jobs, as well as careers in the fields of science, technology and math.

Michael Salmeri, a TWC summer intern and Florida Atlantic University student, was given a remarkable and unique opportunity. Due to his lobbying efforts to prevent the increase of student loan interest rates from 3.4 to 6.8 percent during a special Student Lobby day, Michael was invited to attend a hearing about the issue at the White House.

Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, spoke to TWC summer interns during the first SMLS of the term. In addition to his role at the Center for American Progress, Mr. Korb also serves as the senior advisor to the Center for Defense Information, is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and has authored, co-authored and contributed to more than 20 books and 100 articles on various topics regarding national security issues.

During the SMLS, Mr. Korb discussed:

As part of the LGBT Civic Engagement Project, students visited the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) national headquarters in Washington, D.C. The visit was organized by Candace Gingrich-Jones, Associate Director of Youth and Campus Outreach. The Human Rights Campaign is the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

TWC hosted their first career lunch series of the summer semester at The United Nations Foundation (UNF). What was more exciting than the location, was the expert advice that Peter Yeo, UNF Vice President for Public Policy and Executive Director of the Better World Campaign, provided about careers in the fields of health, public policy and foreign affairs.

35 students and three staff volunteers participated in a community dog park clean up at the Towers Community Canine Area in Arlington, VA. Before they began the clean up, the volunteers heard from Lyndell Core, the park manager, who discussed how community parks benefit dogs and build community support among dog owners.

Students and local dog owners did everything from:

The highly anticipated Media and Communications Panel, "Careers in Communications," took place at the Residential Academic Facility. Each semester, the Media and Communications Program Advisors, Jaclyn Sheridan and Jacki Banks, recruit several speakers from a series of communications backgrounds to speak to TWC interns who are intersted in pursuing a career in communications, PR or marketing.

Summer 2012 Panelists

The Political Leadership, Law and Criminal Justice and International Affairs Programs hosted "Perspectives on International Trade," a panel which exposed TWC's summer interns to career paths in subject areas like International Economics, International Trade, Finance and International Relations. The event took place at the Blinken Auditorium and provided each attendee with the opportunity to gain insight on a diversity of positions, which the panelists either hold currently or in the past.

Panelists