Washington Intern Program Moves Application Deadline to Mid-March

Due to a low number of applications, the spring term Washington Intern Program (WIP) was cancelled for the first time since its implementation 50 years ago. In an effort to revive the program for future years, the History Department has moved the program’s application deadline from the fall to the spring. Consequently, History 332 instructors will hand out applications for next year’s term abroad to uppers on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Students interested in the program for next spring must submit their applications by Mar. 27.The admission policy will abide by an “early decision” plan; if there are still spaces left in the program after the spring selection, the application period will open up in the following fall for other applicants.The WIP Committee, consisting of five faculty members, met last Thursday to officially finalize the movement of the program’s application time frame. The committee has set the timeline and has prepared the paperwork for applications. In the coming months, the group will also interview and select the group of Exonians.

“Working on Capitol Hill, especially with an amazing office, I had the privilege not many 18 year olds have: feeling like you’re making a difference. Every bit of the work I did—constituent response, errands to committee meetings, planning congressional events—was for someone other than me for once.”

The 2016 Washington interns will be announced Apr.10, in time for the 2015-2016 course selections that start Apr. 13. Students can then choose courses for the following year accordingly; in the past, some applicants were forced to withdraw because they had not fulfilled course requirements, and the new application timeline will eliminate such a problem.Bill Jordan, a WIP committee member and history department chair, said that it was a shame that the program didn’t run this year after nearly a half-century of success. He explained that the Academy was founded around the same time as the establishment of America’s independent government.“The Phillips, who set up Exeter and Andover, did it because they thought it was really important for a democracy to have citizens who were virtuous and engaged in their government and knew about it and were informed enough to be active members of it,” Jordan said. “[The WIP] tries to instill an interest in the government and ownership of government and involvement in government. If this program doesn’t succeed, then there’s a problem.”The WIP is the only program of its kind in the country. It gives high school students the opportunity to work with members of Congress. Interns gain real-life work experience by answering phone calls, writing responses to constituents’ concerns, leading tours of the Capitol building, listening to hearings and reporting back to the congressional staff. Workdays run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.The interns are given a significant amount of independence. They live in a hotel two blocks from the Capitol. Although the students have to check in at night, they have access to the treasures of the city throughout the day—the museums, which are free, renowned restaurants, diverse neighborhoods, government buildings, and the Library of Congress.“Those eight weeks were the best of my life,” Keunyoung Ma ‘14, a former intern, said. “Sure, I expected the good food and the sweet hotel life, no homework and exploring D.C., but I was pleasantly surprised by how much WIP has changed me as a person.”Ma emphasized how the program had allowed her to explore beyond what is commonly known as the “Exeter Bubble.”“While Exeter is a diverse community, it is also a bubble in which we often lose perspective regarding real world issues,” she said. “Working on Capitol Hill, especially with an amazing office, I had the privilege not many 18 year olds have: feeling like you’re making a difference. Every bit of the work I did—constituent response, errands to committee meetings, planning congressional events—was for someone other than me for once.”Since only six or seven students committed to the program this fall, the program was not financially viable; at least eight students were needed. According to WIP committee member and history  instructor Michael Golay, the decision not only disappointed many but may have caused “missed or lost connections that [will] need to be rebuilt.”Jordan said that in the past, if a student pulled out from the program, it discredited the school and discouraged certain offices from hosting students again. This year, the Academy was unable to provide any interns; since the cancellation, the committee has worked to ensure that such an occurrence will not be repeated in the future.The WIP committee members have partially attributed the limited interest this year to the increasing number of off-campus opportunities. “The programs [have] just cannibalized off of one another,” Golay said.As a result, Golay stressed the importance of not being “left behind” by competing programs, most of whom’s applications are in the winter and spring. “We want to make sure that students can make their decisions about Washington while they are thinking about the other available programs,” he said, “so that we’re not coming in with our application process after all the other programs have gone through theirs.”In addition, the committee hopes that with the restructuring of the application-process schedule, the program will no longer conflict with other priorities that bombard senior falls. “In the fall, and especially in October, seniors are very busy with their college applications on top of their regular courses and activities,” Barbara Eggers, WIP committee member, said. “Thus, in the spring, the students might have more time to consider and prepare their application for Washington.”The spring deadline, however, has its downsides. “I teach History 440 Politics and Public Policy in the fall and often there are a couple of students in that class who generate an interest in the WIP after taking the course,” Jordan said. “I’d be sad if those students couldn’t get in because the program was already filled up. Also, this fall is going to be a presidential New Hampshire primary year, and candidates are likely to be visiting Exeter, so that might generate some interest.”The program takes place during the last term seniors have at the Academy. In the past, the timing of the program has been a major barrier because many students are unwilling to sacrifice their final term despite their interest in WIP.“The program loses so many potential Exonians because it takes place in the spring. It makes students questions whether they want to enjoy the wonderful program at the expense of their last spring term at Exeter,” lower Alejandro Arango said. “Honestly, I don’t know how a change in the deadline will be a real revival of the program. I wonder if the spring is the only possible time for this program to take place.”In the near future, the committee will have the same amount of time that it usually does to publicize WIP. This year, however, since the committee members just decided to move the application time frame forward, the committee has a greatly reduced window of time to interest and inform students regarding the program.Undeterred by the challenge, the committee plans to spread the word in whatever ways it can. History 332 instructors will discuss the program with uppers in their classes before the spring break, and the committee will soon put up posters and other publicity forms around campus so that such a cancellation never needs to happen again.Ma said, “I understand why and how [the] WIP got canceled, but this disappoints me further knowing that students will be missing out on the wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”