Washington D.C. Summer Study Program

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The Washington Summer Study Program is designed to provide students with an opportunity to live and work in the Washington, D.C., area while earning academic credit. Each student will serve in a Congressional office, on a committee staff, in a government agency, in a nonprofit organization, or with a public affairs group. In addition to the work experience, the faculty moderator will conduct seminars and arrange supplemental meetings with alumni(ae) and other professionals to enhance the learning experience.

This program is available to students from any major. Many students choose to work with a Senate or House office or with lobbyists and government relations firms. Economics majors can intern with the World Bank, IMF, or numerous other financial institutions. Peace Studies majors on the program have worked for human rights organizations and non-governmental organizations working in international development. Environmental Studies majors can work for the EPA or environmental policy organizations. Others might consider journalism internships, or internships within the federal bureaucracy. Natural Science majors can work for a health policy group and fine arts and humanities majors might think of interning with organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts. There are literally thousands of internships in Washington DC. They are competitive but we assist you through the application process.

Alums on “WHY DC?”

Students spend summer gaining valuable experience in Washington, D.C.

Cecilia McNair and Michael Heimel spent the summer working across the political aisle from one another in Washington, D.C.

But the junior at the College of Saint Benedict and senior at Saint John’s University both say they gained valuable insight into the legislative process and a network of contacts that will be incredibly valuable to them as they pursue their post-graduate careers.

And that’s the point of the Washington, D.C., summer study program at CSB and SJU, which wrapped up its 46th year last month.

It’s designed to provide students from all majors the opportunity to live and work in Washington while earning academic credit. Each student serves in a Congressional office, on a committee staff, in a government agency, in a nonprofit organization or with a public affairs group.

McNair worked in the office of Tina Smith, a Democrat and U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Heimel, meanwhile, worked in the office of U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican representing New York’s 21st congressional district and the chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021-25.

“I had the chance to do a lot of constituent work, answering phones, talking to people and hearing their concerns,” said McNair, a political science pre-law major and data analytics minor who also serves as the chair of the College Democrats of Minnesota.

“Things cycle through the media so fast these days, and it was really interesting to see what issues resonated with people and impacted them. There was a lot of volume. We’d come into the office on Monday morning and there’d be 1,500 voicemails that the interns and staff would go through and respond to. It was our job to make sure people were heard.”

Heimel, meanwhile, worked as a press intern.

“I had the chance to do a lot of video editing and graphic design stuff,” said Heimel, a political science and strategic communication studies double major who’d previously worked as a digital media intern on the presidential campaign of Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.

“I’d go to hearings and take pictures. It was interesting because (Rep. Stefanik) is a pretty powerful member of the party and there would be so many stories written about her every day. There was a lot of interest in her activities. I worked on videos that went out on YouTube and Twitter. Some of them got over a million views. It really helped me improve my video editing skills.”

Both McNair, a graduate of St. Cloud Apollo High School, and Heimel, a Prior Lake High School alum, said they were amazed by how deep the CSB and SJU presence in Washington, D.C. runs.

“The chief of staff for (Rep. Stefanik) is a Johnnie, Patrick Hester, and he texted me to say they were looking for someone who’d had experience in press and media,” Heimel said. “He saw I’d had experience on (Ramaswamy’s) presidential campaign. That got the ball rolling.

“It’s pretty amazing because once you land an internship like this, you start to realize how big a network of alums we have out there,” he continued. “I went to a couple of alumni events this summer and there’d be 30, 40 or even 50 people there. They all go out of their way to help you out no matter where you each were on the political spectrum. I got to meet people from the left and the right. But we were all connected by being Johnnies and Bennies.”

“It was really cool because we lived together in housing that was right in the heart of Washington, D.C.,” added McNair, who is studying abroad in Austria this semester. “It wasn’t just political science majors. We had economics majors and communication majors. There really is something for everyone in D.C.

“It would be so hard to do all this on your own, getting the internship and lining up housing. So this program – and the support you get from faculty and staff here – is incredibly valuable.”

In addition to McNair and Heimel, the rest of this summer’s cohort was as follows:

“Getting any job in D.C. is very difficult, so to have a program like this that opens doors for you is incredible,” Heimel said.

“To say I’ve had experience working in the office of a U.S. Senator is going to be so helpful going forward,” McNair added. “Having the chance to see the energy that goes into what happens behind-the-scenes was an amazing experience.

“It’s been super transformational.”

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See you in the summer of ’26 in D.C.