A 10-year partnership between Iowa State and The Washington Center has flowered into many semester-long internships over the past decade for ISU students.

The Washington Center is a nonprofit organization that works with more than 750 colleges and universities to help students locate internships in the Washington, D.C. area. The center has been in operation for 25 years.

Pam Patterson, ISU program coordinator for The Washington Center, said the program helps foster future leaders.

“It is a very beneficial program and as a result, I think it gives the students a strong sense of purpose, goals and confidence,” she said. “It’s a very diversified experience for the students.”

The center accepts more than 1,000 interns a semester, and places them at different agencies in the Washington, D.C. area, Patterson said.

Interns can earn up to 12 credits for their participation in the program.

To apply, students must write an essay in which they are asked to “articulate their goals, skills they are expected to gain and to conceptualize their dream job,” Patterson said.

“They will then find you a job that most likely fits what you are looking for in an internship,” she said.

Ellery Petersen, senior in dietetics, said her internship through The Washington Center last summer was beneficial.

“I interned with an organization called Antihunger/Antipoverty,” Petersen said. “We taught nutritional education to kids in the inner-city and poverty-stricken areas.”

Petersen said her internship aided her in attaining a job at the South Dakota Department of Health, where she will work after graduating this spring.

Erin Bresnan, graduate student in interdisciplinary studies, said her internship with a human rights organization was a “perfect match” for her since it paralleled her interest areas in women’s studies and Spanish.

While doing her internship, Bresnan had the opportunity to tour the nation’s Capitol.

“I went to hearings and meetings on the hill and met some Congress people, too,” Bresnan said. “Plus, there’s always something to do, the museums and monuments are all entertaining and interesting to see.”

Patterson said the program is funded in part by tuition paid by the students to ISU during the semester of the internship.

A $2,000 assistance package currently is available to ISU students participating in the program to help defray housing costs, she said.

The program is available to full-time students in every major with a minimum 2.5 GPA. For more information, view The Washington Center’s Web site at http://www.twc.edu.