For the past semester, I have worked as an intern at The Institute of World Politics. My internship has taught me a wide range of valuable skills and has connected me with some amazing people. IWP is full of great people who are relatable and flexible, which accurately describes how I learned about the internship program. I learned about IWP at a career fair at George Mason University and, later, at an open house at the IWP campus during the fall of my sophomore year. Shortly after, I applied to the internship program and was accepted.
The internship, itself, has been extraordinary. As a government and international politics student at George Mason University, IWP has expanded my knowledge of statecraft beyond what can be learned in a traditional classroom. As a member of the counterterrorism research group, I had the responsibility of working with other interns to assist Professor Aaron Danis in researching the details of various terrorist attacks for his courses. This research helped me better understand the world around me and the implications terrorist attacks have on policy and the larger statecraft of countries and coalitions. The group of interns I worked with were some of the greatest people to work with, and learning from them offered me a different perspective on how to approach research.
IWP has also allowed me to better self-evaluate and understand what I want to do later in life. The discussion of statecraft and strategic objectives has prepared me to answer the “why” to many of the current problems with which the United States is confronted. This internship has prepared me to finish my college degree next year by giving me the tools to assess the global environment and to seek to know why events happen. My experience at IWP has been extremely rewarding and has prepared me for life in the national security field.
Trai Gozzi
Spring 2019
