Amy Huang ’99 clearly remembers her experience in the Wellesley in Washington (WIW) internship program the summer after her junior year. A Chinese studies major, she interned with Leslie Griffin ’89, who at the time worked in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Asia department. “I interviewed different small businesses on how trade with China was beneficial to them and put together a little pamphlet,” Huang says. She remains in touch with Griffin—and also works with Wellesley’s Career Education and political science departments to help support today’s WIW interns, along with Charlotte Hayes ’75.

The WIW internship program began in 1943 when the College closed for a few months during winter to save fuel, and a professor in the political science department found unpaid positions for 15 students in various government agencies in the capital. It was such a success that the program ran again over the summer—and has endured ever since. Today, 24 students are housed in George Washington University dorms and receive a stipend. Originally focused on politics and policy, “For at least the past decade, the WIW program has worked hard to expand the program’s range to students whose majors and interests fall outside the typical politics/policy realm,” says Laura Grattan, Jane Bishop ’51 Associate Professor of Political Science, who is one of the program’s directors.

Today, students secure internships related to scientific research, media, the arts, and nonprofit organizations “focusing on issues such as reproductive justice, women’s health, mental health, civil rights, the needs of Latinx and AAPI communities, immigrant rights, criminal legal reform, LGBTQ issues, environmental justice, disability rights, housing, labor, and much more. … There really isn’t one kind of story or one path to being part of WIW,” Grattan says.

One of the key features of the WIW program is its emphasis on mentorship. Hayes, who has worked inside the Beltway for decades, says she and Huang try to connect students with mentors working in areas that match the students’ interests. But they stress the importance of students taking the initiative to reach out to the mentors, and of learning how to nurture those connections.

Beyond the internships, alum panels and networking events are frequent highlights. The network of alums not only offers students career advice but often helps them secure post-graduation jobs. “There is simply no way we could run the WIW program at this point without the alum network!” Grattan says.

Each year, there are as many as 80 applications for just 24 spots. Selecting participants, Grattan notes, is one of the most challenging aspects of the program. “The application asks students to write a narrative that helps us understand what drives their intellectual and vocational passions and how a summer internship in Washington would help them explore those passions in ways that build on courses, work, or activities they’ve already pursued,” she says.

At the heart of the WIW program is the dedication of alums like Hayes and Huang. But, they say, they get as much out of the program as they give. “The students are extraordinary,” says Hayes. “It’s been life-affirming and life-changing, and it gives me hope for the world to be around them. They are phenomenal.”