On Friday, Feb. 7, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs announced the 2020 cohort of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI). Four people, including three seniors and one alumnus, were selected for the graduate program, and seven undergraduates were selected for the prestigious summer internship program.
The SINSI program “encourages, supports, and prepares high-achieving students to pursue careers in both internationally and domestically focused federal agencies,” according to the Wilson School website.
This year featured a record number of 75 applicants, according to SINSI co-directors Rick Barton and Kit Lunney.
“Our selection panel found their dedication to public service, seen through both on- and off-campus commitments, to be inspiring,” they said in the Wilson School statement.
Laura Hausman ’20, Mikaylah Ladue ’20, Cassie Rodriguez ’19, and Alexandra Zalewski ’20 were admitted to the SINSI graduate program, which includes a full tuition and living expenses scholarship for a two-year Master in Public Affairs program at the Woodrow School. The program also features two-year positions with executive branch departments or agencies, amounting to four years in total.
Hausman is a politics major from New York, N.Y. pursuing a certificate in American Studies. Her senior thesis investigates “how U.S. voters respond to disclosures of experience with mental illness by candidates seeking elected office,” according to the statement.
She has previously interned for Springboard Collective, Senator José Rafael Nadal Power of Puerto Rico, and federal Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak in the Eastern District of New York.
Ladue of Levittown, Pa. is majoring in anthropology with a focus on legal and political anthropology. She is also pursuing certificates in Latin American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
“I hope that the academic training gained through the SINSI program will not only enhance the law school curriculum, but provide me with the necessary tools to achieve a career dedicated to making and changing policy,” wrote Ladue in an email statement to The Daily Princetonian.
In summer 2019, Ladue served as a counseling intern with the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia, where her tasks included giving legal information and referrals to local women. Ladue has conducted research about the the intersection of gender and drug trafficking with the Gender in the Global Community project through the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination.
Ladue hopes to pursue work related to drug policies, which have been the focus of her research at the University. She feels spurred to action by the opioid crisis “ever-present” in her hometown, which fuels “social, political, and economic marginalization.”
Rodriguez of San Bernardino, Calif., graduated cum laude in 2019 with a concentration in politics and certificates in East Asian Studies and the History and Practice of Diplomacy. She interned at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, a Japanese foreign policy think tank, where she conducted research on American-Japanese relations.
She is currently studying Japanese through the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, a program run by Stanford University.
Zalewski is a Wilson School concentrator from Orange County, Calif. According to the statement, she “hopes to pursue a career in conflict stabilization and is interested in understanding conditions on the ground through direct engagement with locals.”
Last summer, she was a SINSI intern at the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations in the U.S. State Department, where she focused on Venezuelan security sector stabilization.
Jason “Jay” Bateman ’20, Margaret “Maggie” Baughman ’21, Krystal Cohen ’21, Michaela Daniel ’21, Matthew Grossman ’21, Nikhita Salgame ’21, and Claire Wayner ’22 will receive fully funded, 8-10 week summer internships through the SINSI internship program.
Bateman of Kansas City, Mo. is a Wilson School concentrator. According to the statement, “his academic interest is on education policy implementation with a focus on classroom- and district-level disparities between social groups.”
As part of his certificate in the Teacher Preparation Program, he will be a student-teacher in the Lawrence School District in the fall of 2020. Through his student-teaching, he will gain “classroom-based experience he hopes will make him a more effective policymaker,” as the press release explains.
Baughman is a Wilson School concentrator from Columbia, Md. pursuing certificates in Chinese Language and Culture, Applications of Computing, and Statistics and Machine Learning.
Last year, she interned in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations on the East Asia and the Pacific team.
“I’m excited to spend my second summer serving in the government, and I hope that this helps me find a career path in public service that is challenging and fulfilling,” Baughman wrote in an email to the ‘Prince’.
Cohen is a sociology concentrator from Jersey City, N.J. pursuing certificates in African American Studies, Statistics and Machine Learning, and Teacher Preparation.
In the summer of 2019, she was an intern at the Foundation Academy Charter School, where she “she designed and taught a civic engagement summer camp for middle and high school students and continues to lead the school’s grant development efforts,” according to the statement.
“As someone deeply invested in understanding racial and income disparities in K-12 education, I hope that this internship will broaden my perspective of the issue and offer me a clearer picture of the federal government’s role in the education reform movement,” Cohen wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince’.
Daniel of Stonecrest, Ga. is concentrating in Near Eastern Studies, in which she focuses on immigration and displaced populations. Last summer, she was a civic engagement intern at New American Pathways, a refugee resettlement agency based in Atlanta, Ga.
Grossman is a Wilson School concentrator from Millburn, N.J. pursuing certificates in Finance and the History and Practice of Diplomacy.
This summer, Grossman will be working in the Justice Department in the Civil Rights Division.
“I hope I’ll be able to make a positive impact helping the Justice Department enforce civil rights legislation and improve the lives of disadvantaged Americans,” Grossman said. “I’m also hoping to get experience working with the law and to learn more about careers in public service.”
Salgame is a Wilson School concentrator from Princeton pursuing certificates in East Asian Studies and the History and Practice of Diplomacy. Last summer, she interned at the Brookings Institution conducting research on U.S.-China trade.
Wayner is a civil and environmental engineering major from Baltimore, Md. pursuing certificates in Sustainable Energy, Urban Studies, and Environmental Studies.
Wayner is an opinion columnist for the ‘Prince.’
She will be interning at the Strategic Energy Analysis Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., during which she will research policies relating to the integration of energy storage into South Asian electricity grids.
“I was ecstatic when I heard the news and am honored to be a part of this cohort, especially as the lone sophomore,” Wayner wrote in an email. “Each one of my fellow interns are amazing and inspiring humans, and it’s humbling to know that I’m in the same cohort as them.”
Hausman, Zalewski, Rodriguez, Bateman, Daniel, and Salgame did not respond to requests for comment from the ‘Prince’ in time for publication.
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