I joined the Citizen Scholar program during my freshman year at Michigan State University, when the program was in its first year, as well. I joined the program because it seemed like a unique opportunity to engage with my community at MSU and in East Lansing, as well as to connect with and learn from other students from my program who were also studying within the College of Arts and Letters.
As a communications intern for the Citizen Scholars program, I worked on developing content and editing student stories for our newly launched website this past winter. This experience opened my eyes to the depth of experiences and unique MSU stories we have in our various Citizen Scholars cohorts. It was especially rewarding to hear stories of different study abroad experiences within the program, which took students all over the globe.
I used my own Citizen Scholar funding to study away in New York City, as a production intern for the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. This experience gave me a lot of industry knowledge and introduced me to valued friends, mentors, and future coworkers. I used additional funding provided by the program to continue my internship experience at Saturday Night Live, a year later. Both of these opportunities prepared me well for working in the television and entertainment industry.
The Citizen Scholars program not only introduced me to new people but taught me the skills to engage with my community, both socially and politically, and prepared me to take the leap to pursue work in new places. I’m grateful to the program for giving us all the opportunities to succeed and graduate as civically engaged members of society.