THE SPRING CLASS

Three spring interns of the Indian American Center of Political Awareness’s (IACPA) Washington Leadership Program (WLP), from left, Bharathi Sundaram, Meghana Mudiyam and Amy Kotwani with Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, second from left, at his office in Washington, D.C. The fourth WLP spring intern Chirag Shah was not at the meeting. McAuliffe spoke of DNC’s role in the Democratic Primary races. (Photo: Christopher Dumm)

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Four Indian American university students have just completed spring internships in Congressional offices as part of the Washington Leadership Program (WLP), which is run by the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA).

From Jan. 19 to April 30, Chirag Shah from Truman State University worked for Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC); Bharathi Sundaram from Mount Holyoke College worked for the Democratic staff of the Homeland Security Committee; Meghana Mudiyam from the

University of California, Berkley, worked for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); and Amy Kotwani from the University of Missouri worked for Congressman Jim McDermott

(D-WA).

During these fifteen weeks, the four students participated in the legislative process and got an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at Washington and the political scene.

Gopal Raju founded IACPA in 1993 and, a year later, WLP was set up. The program has grown and gained respect from the Indian-American community at large, members of Congress and their staff and, most important, from the participants themselves.

Since 1994, the WLP has placed over 135 interns, making it the largest and most successful Asian-American internship program in Washington, D.C. These interns have been placed mainly in offices in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, with both Republican and Democratic officeholders.

The first intern had served in the spring, 1994, but since then the program has exclusively placed interns only during the summer. This year marked the first time since the initial placement that WLP placed interns during the spring. Spring and fall placements tend to be difficult as these students are then required to take a semester off from their university studies to participate in WLP.

As with the traditional summer program, the interns this spring participated in a weeklong orientation program run by IACPA before joining their Congressional offices.

This first week was marked with a series of discussions and meetings designed to introduce the interns to Washington politics and public policy and Indian American community issues. The week was highlighted by meetings with Neil Patel, who serves as Vice President

Dick Cheney’s top aide and Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Working in Congress gave the interns experiences in politics and policymaking. All four interns also had the unique experience of working in a hard-fought Congressional campaign. The four Indian-American interns all had the opportunity to travel to Kentucky to participate in a special Congressional election.

Traveling with the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the interns went to Kentucky and volunteered to assist the campaigns of either the Republican candidate, Alice Fogy Kerr, or the Democratic candidate, Ben Chandler.

The four interns kept diaries of their experiences, which can be accessed at the IACPA Web site www..