D.C. alumni club offers scholarships

Are financial difficulties holding you back from your dream internship in the nation's capital? Well, your worries will be no more if you take action quickly. April 1 is the deadline for applications for the scholarships awarded by the Washington, D.C. Alumni Club to University undergraduates planning summer internships in the nations capital. The awards of up to $2,000 are intended to assist students taking unpaid or low-paid summer slots in paying their expenses. Summer internships in Washington are "a giddy round of challenging jobs, exciting opportunities to meet and learn from movers and shakers, and fun social occasions," said Michael Gessell, chairperson of the scholarship fund. "But it can be an expensive summer." Gessell said that the awards are for those people who really cannot afford the summer. "Many students can make a real contribution, but few can pay for it," Gessell said. "These scholarships are the club's way of bridging that gap for at least some of those students." Eligible internships can be with any government entity or non-profit organization in the Washington area, Gessell said. According to the application form, top priority will go to students who have been accepted in internships "that promise to be a) inherently exciting, rewarding, intellectually stimulating; b) significant in the life plan of the intern; c) of benefit to society at large." Last summer's winners were College seniors Mary Conway and Rebecca Graeves. Conway interned at the National Association of Child Advocates, where she helped organize a national conference on Medicaid and worked on an analysis of children aid programs in the federal budget. Graeves worked in the State Department Foreign Service Institute and said her project of updating a reader's guide for diplomats in Russia helped her to access resources for her senior honors thesis on Russian military and security issues. Applications for the scholarship are available from Jenny Baker in Career Planning and Placement.