According to the American University Career Center, “one of the greatest advantages to studying in Washington, D.C. is the unparalleled access that you have to internships. These opportunities enable you to enrich your education with hands-on experience and to apply lessons learned in the classroom to professional settings.” To that end, students in the SPA 391 Leadership Internship course work at an internship for 5-30 hours per week over 14 weeks. The leadership internship provides not only the opportunity for professional experience; it also serves as the means by which students demonstrate how much they have learned from their leadership classes and how well they can integrate their theoretical learning to practical problems. In addition, the internship offers students experience in their chosen field.

Students hold internships in non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, federal and state government agencies, lobbying firms, and even the White House. Some recent internship locations include:

Sample List: Internships completed by SPA Leadership Students

• Alliance for Excellent Education   
• Alliance for Justice
• American Enterprise Institute
• Americans for Prosperity
• Center for Budget and Policy Priorities
• Congressman Steve Russell
• Council for the Americas
• Democratic Governors Association
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Fulbright Association
• Giffords: An Organization to End Gun Violence
• Global Impact
• HCM Strategists
• Heurich House Museum
• Institute for Women’s Policy Research 
• Interpol
• Latin America Working Group
• National Multifamily Housing Council
• Office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-D)
• Office of Representative Joe Courtney (CT-D)
• Office of Senator Chuck Schumer (NY-D)
• Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA-D)
• Office of Senator Marsha Blackburn (TN-R)
• Office of Senator Rob Portman
• Office of Senator Ron Wyden (Oregon-D)
• Penn, Schoen & Berland
• Republican Governors Association 
• Smithsonian Institution
• Steptoe & Johnson LLP
• The Federalist Society
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• U.S. Department of Justice
• United States Department of Commerce
• United States Department of Defense
• United States Department of Justice

Graduate School Acceptances of SPA Leadership Students

• American University 
• Boston College 
• Boston University 
• Brown University 
• Catholic University of America 
• George Washington University 
• Georgetown University 
• Harvard University 
• New York University 
• Tufts University 
• University of Chicago 
• Yale University Americans for
• Prosperity