When 20 MSU students go to Washington, D.C., this summer, it won’t just be for vacation. These students will join eight others from Mississippi State University to participate in the seventh annual William A. Demmer Scholars Program.
Students in the program will have internships for the duration of their stay in Washington, D.C. In past years, students worked with a number of federal agencies and non-governmental organizations, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service.
“My expectation is that by immersing myself in the culture of the city along with getting involved in the forefront of agricultural policy, I will gain insight on the steps taken to create such policy and live in such a bustling city,” said Rosalyn Brummette, agribusiness management junior.
Mark Rey, executive in residence at the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and former undersecretary for natural resources and the environment in the Department of Agriculture, has run the program for all of its seven years.
“This program gives the students the opportunity to experience in the work environment some of the principles we discuss in the classroom,” Rey said. “For some students, it has proven to be the beginning of a career path. We now have more than 25 former Demmer Scholars living and working in the Washington, D.C., area.”
While in the program, students also meet once a week for a class taught by Rey on natural resources policy. Every Saturday, students get firsthand experience in the subjects they learned about that week by going on field trips to Grey Towers National Historic Site, the Watergate Complex and the U.S. Capitol.
“The trips were a great way to explore the D.C. area and really enhanced my understanding of the subjects I had been learning in the class and during my internship,” said Aniela Butler, 2014 Demmer Scholar and communications intern with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The MSU 2015 Demmer Scholars and their majors are:
- Joe Brennan, junior, political theory and constitutional democracy
- Rosalyn Brummette, junior, agribusiness management
- Andrew Carlson, doctoral student, fisheries and wildlife
- Lizzie DePentu, junior, comparative cultures and politics
- Eamon Devlin, junior, fisheries and wildlife
- Austin Dixon, junior, fisheries and wildlife
- Stephanie Muise, master’s student, fisheries and wildlife
- Angela Kilgore, BA, public policy
- Quincy Kittle, sophomore, comparative cultures and politics
- Ha Ahn Le, BS, mechanical engineering
- Dennis Maxwell, senior, environmental studies and sustainability
- Allison Montambeau, junior, environmental studies and sustainability
- Renee O’Connell, junior, environmental studies and sustainability
- Shalisa Ramos, junior, criminal justice
- Mitch Roberts, junior, international relations
- Stephanie Schmidt, senior, environmental sciences and management
- Simon Schuster, junior, social relations and policy
- Linsey Stauffer, senior, social relations and policy
- Bryn Williams, sophomore, comparative cultures and politics
- Sarah Wisely, junior, international relations