UVU Where in the World Are You: Washington, D.C.

9 college students within the Utah Valley College (UVU) Nationwide Safety Research (NSS)
program had the unforgettable alternative to go to the US capital June
6-10 for this system’s annual D.C. Summer season Seminar. Whereas there, they immersed themselves
within the career of nationwide safety and ready for work within the authorities and
nationwide safety fields.

“The primary purpose I needed to go was simply to get that firsthand, real-life expertise
that I had heard a lot about for the previous two years,” stated UVU NSS senior Benjamin
Udall. “I needed to have a greater imaginative and prescient of the place I need to go and what I may actually
see myself doing, and the journey actually gave all that to me. It was completely value it.”

Udall, who will graduate together with his bachelor’s diploma in nationwide safety research in
December, plans to take the LSAT and apply to regulation faculty this 12 months.

Chosen from a pool of over thirty candidates in this system, the 9 college students participated
in six weeks of intensive coursework and one week in D.C. They labored on their resumes
and canopy letters and accomplished mock interviews and writing samples. In addition they studied
and visited the Pentagon, State Division, CIA, FBI, Nationwide Safety Council, White
Home, and Capitol Hill, in addition to one non-governmental and one worldwide group.

A visit spotlight for the scholars was having the ability to meet with entry-, mid-, and senior-level
individuals at every of these departments and businesses, who suggested them and will even serve
as mentors and contacts.

Affiliate professor Ryan Vogel led the journey. He’s a former senior coverage advisor
within the Pentagon and the founding director of UVU’s Heart for NSS and the NSS educational
program.

Vogel stated that college students normally begin out with a normal curiosity in a single space and
the seminar both refines or expands their curiosity and imaginative and prescient. Moreover, college students
from previous years have been in a position to flip their summer season seminar expertise into job and
internship alternatives.

“I believe that for lots of scholars it is a actually eye-opening expertise,” Vogel stated.
“A few of them have been to D.C., however they’ve by no means been inside these buildings.
Or if they’ve, they have not met with the professionals in that type of manner. There
are folks that have an curiosity in these college students, after which that relationship they
have going ahead is invaluable.”

Amanda Clark, a junior within the NSS program, stated that talking with professionals taught
her an vital lesson: take the alternatives that come your solution to higher your
skilled expertise and improve your ability set.

If Udall needed to slender it down, his favourite a part of the journey was the time spent at
the Nationwide Safety Council within the Eisenhower Govt Workplace Constructing. “Being
in a position to go there and sit down with the 2 representatives that we talked to was actually
particular,” he stated. “We left there and even Ryan stated, ‘I hope you guys notice how
cool that was. I hope you notice that that is one thing hardly anybody will get to do.’”

Annually the seminar additionally contains an alumni evening the place college students get to fulfill with
UVU NSS alumni who’re working within the trade. Andre Jones, who serves as president
of NSS alumni’s D.C. chapter along with his work for the federal authorities, organizes
and carries out the occasion. He additionally supplies mentorship and sources for as many UVU
college students as he can.

Jones stated it is invaluable for college kids to community with their “predecessors” — individuals
who made it all through this system and landed nice jobs. “College students can ask,
‘How’d you do it? What did you do? What labored for you?’” he stated. “And [alumni] can
discuss to college students about that whereas they’re out right here.”

Vogel stated that UVU’s NSS program is the one certainly one of its variety within the Intermountain
West. “I believe it is among the perfect packages within the nation,” stated Vogel. “Particularly
when you think about the outputs. We put individuals in these jobs. I believe the truth that
college students have flocked to our program from throughout the nation is an effective indication
of how we’re doing. And it has been plenty of enjoyable to observe it develop.”

“I’ve not even been in this system a 12 months and I’ve had the chance to actually excel
at an exponential charge,” Clark stated. “Not solely are college students right here lined up for achievement,
however the professors aid you get there. If anybody’s contemplating nationwide safety and
they’re within the West or wherever else within the nation, come to UVU. It’s going to positively
change your life utterly.”

​​“I am happy with the place we’re, as a result of now we have a extremely strong status,” Vogel stated.
“Persons are beginning to actually take discover, like UVU is a pressure to be reckoned with
on this space. It’s an incredible factor.”