Note: This post as been updated to reflect new interns selected since our initial announcement.
The Center for Politics at UVA has selected eight outstanding University undergraduates as the 2024 recipients of the Center’s annual 22nd Century Summer Scholarship. The program provides students with paid summer internships with the Center for Politics and with public-sector internships not based at the University in local, state, and federal government. Scholars selected to intern at the Center for Politics will begin in July serving as student ambassadors alongside 104 undergraduate students from Iraq for the Center’s upcoming Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) sponsored by the U.S. Department of State in partnership with World Learning.
They will reside together and join each other in teambuilding exercises, leadership training, civic engagement activities, and cultural engagements. In addition to working on the international exchange program, the 22nd Century Scholars will also serve as summer interns within the Center for Politics. The program concludes in early August before the start of the fall semester.
The scholars are:
Max Velazquez is a rising fourth-year student from Brooklyn Heights, New York City, NY, majoring in Government with a concentration in American Politics.
Sree Pamulapati is a rising second-year student from Atlanta, GA, studying economics and government on the pre-law track.
Miranda Rennert is a rising fourth-year student from McLean, VA, double majoring in Foreign Affairs and Environmental Thought and Practice.
Tanish Gupta is a rising fourth-year student from Hagerstown, MD, pursuing a B.S. in Commerce and minor in Government.
AJ Laurienti is a rising fourth-year student from Ashburn, VA, double-majoring in Foreign Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies.
Kim Egoavil is a rising second-year student from Tampa, FL, majoring in Economics and expects to pursue a career in international economic policy.
Lorette Dredger is a rising fourth-year student from Harrisonburg, VA, double-majoring in History and Political Philosophy, Policy, & Law.
Lucia Fogler is a rising second-year student from Richmond, VA, double-majoring in Foreign Affairs and Public Policy.
These students are pictured below:
Left to right, top: 22nd Century Scholars Max Velazquez, Sree Pamulapati, Miranda Rennert, and Tanish Gupta; Left to right, bottom: 22nd Century Scholars AJ Laurienti, Kim Egoavil, Lorette Dredger, and Lucia Fogler
The Center for Politics also recently announced the recipients of the G. Richard Fletcher 22nd Century Scholarship Isabella Dal Pozzolo and Alexandra Worms), the Larry J. Sabato and Walter N. Ridley Capitol Hill Internship Stipend (Tyler Busch) and the Douglas C. Page 22nd Century Scholarship (Ezra Thau and Ansley Skipper). See here for more on those students (who are pictured below).
Top row, left to right: G. Richard Fletcher 22nd Century Scholarship recipients Isabella Dal Pozzolo and Alexandra Worms and Larry J. Sabato and Walter N. Ridley Capitol Hill Internship Stipend recipient Tyler Busch. Bottom row, left to right: Douglas C. Page 22nd Century Scholarship recipients Ezra Thau and Ansley Skipper
The Center’s 22nd Century Scholars Program was created in 2020 when many students lost their paid public sector internships as a result of the pandemic. The Center partnered with other democracy-facing units of the University of Virginia and generous private donors to offer emergency assistance to the students by replacing their lost internships with paid summer internships based at the University of Virginia. The program proved to be both popular and rewarding for participating students. Today, thanks to a private endowment, it continues to help students gain hands-on work experience in politics and government, together with additional resources such as career development sessions led by the UVA Career Center and networking opportunities with policymakers, non-profit leaders, and other guests. In recent years, again thanks to private scholarships, the program was expanded to offer stipends for students to accept public-sector internships not based at the University in local, state, and federal government.
