Presidential Politics
Jakob
Experience Information
Employer: Strategic National
Job Title: Intern
Major: Political Science
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: No
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Strategic National is located on 190 Monroe right in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, a hub for political and social activity. The office is located on the fifth floor right across the road from the historic Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Strategic National has a strong core group of young, energized employees who want to better our city, state, and nation as a whole.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
While at Strategic National, on my first project I was put on a team of employees working both in Grand Rapids and Washington D.C. We reached out to students all over the state through multiple forms of communication in hopes of getting attendees for the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference that was held on Mackinac Island in late September. After a successful weekend on the Island, I was moved to a new project dealing with campaign finance. Soon after third quarter fundraising ended I began collecting mass amounts of data of individual campaign contributors to each one of the Republican presidential candidates. I spent weeks scrolling through FEC.gov to put together a excel spreadsheet to be run in our analysis software to better understand the demographics of specific types of campaign donors and contributors. After this analysis was run, we gained an insight to American voters, thus giving us a leg up on competition.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I gained several skills while interning with Strategic National, which include software and computer skills which I gained from time spent creating reports and spreadsheets. Communication and customer service skills came from working over the phone with customers and figuring out what was needed for projects in the office. I also bettered my teamwork skills working with different people in different states.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of this internship was all of the behind the scenes happenings which most people typically do not see during a presidential campaign. Getting to see the ins and outs of a job field in which I am very interested kept me pushing to learn more and achieve everything I could with my time spent in the office. Also being able to meet people of different backgrounds who all come together for one common goal, bettering our community, state, and country from the inside out.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This experience has had a profound impact on my future career goals, it has helped me feel out the field of political science. This opportunity was a terrific learning experience, and not only did I learn a whole new side of politics, I learned about myself and my motivations for being involved in this particular field. I will continue to study political science, but with an emphasis on another aspect of the topic.