View from VIEW – Week 4 – the Mentorship Program One unique feature of the VIEW program is the mentorship program. Each summer students are matched with alumni living and working the in DC area. The alumni work in all different sectors, ranging from White House staffers to lawyers and doctors. We were matched based on our career goals and personal interests, with the idea that the mentor will serve both as an introduction to DC and a resource for career and personal development. My mentor’s name is Steven McKnight. A Vandy grad both from the undergraduate program and the law school, he currently serves as a senior vice president for Cassidy & Associates, a government relations firm based here in Washington, DC. Steven has done a great job of sharing with me his career experiences, and has gone beyond a mentor’s duty in answering my endless questions. I was lucky and was paired with a mentor who not only meets with me regularly and provides many resources for me to learn more about the field of government relations, but also puts an unbelievable amount of effort into his role. From him, I have learned a great deal about the role lobbying firms play in DC. But Steven has gone even further, and has supplemented the experiences I have had as an intern at the Vanderbilt Federal Relations Office with other out of office activities. As well as arranging lunch meetings with several impressive women in varying areas of public policy, Steven has taken me to events ranging from a talk on affirmative action at the Federalist Society to a breakfast fundraiser for a Member of Congress. I learned that the policy world in DC does not end when the work day ends – rather, professionals attend supplemental lunchtime and post-work activities to further enhance their personal understanding of policy, and further their career goals. The fundraiser was particularly insightful because it changed many opinions I had held prior to my time in DC. Fundraising to me has always held a negative connotation – it was an unpleasant yet necessary side of politics. To my surprise, the discussions held at the table were bursting with content, with the Congressman and a Senator talking about substantive issues of interest to their guests. It was a pleasant meal with very intelligent conversations. When combined with my internship experience, these activities have given me an accurate and vast impression of the public policy sector, and life in DC as a whole! The mentorship portion of the VIEW experience has further enhanced the internship experiences of everyone in my cohort, and creates lasting impressions and insights which will hopefully aid us as we progress into the career world. -Kathleen Schaaf
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 18:53:41 +0000
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