Undergraduate political science majors Sonya Grabowski ’11, Matt Diamond ’12, and Amelia Najjar ’12 were awarded Harrington Public Affairs Fellowships to attend special academic seminars in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.

Sponsored by the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, the two-week long program combines lectures by faculty and guest speakers, small group discussions, site visits to organizations and embassies, a bus tour of Washington, D.C., and a number of special events.  The students were able to listen to, and speak with politicians, nationally recognized journalists, political analysts, and scholars.  The Fellowships paid for seminar fees and housing during the program.

Grabowski and Diamond attended the “Inside Washington: The New Congress” seminar.   Both were featured on C-SPAN posing questions to Ross Baker, a prominent political scholar. Video is online at: http://www.c spanvideo.org/program/CongressandtheConst. (Diamond is shown at 26:30; Grabowski 48:30.)

Najjar, who attended a one-week seminar “The Media and Politics,” said her favorite part of the seminar was the site visits.  The students visited CBS News, The National Press Club and the Embassy of India.

“The experience overall was a perfect way to not only learn more about politics and the media, but also learn more about what role I can play in politics in the future,” said Najjar.

Grabowski, Diamond and Najjar were awarded the fellowships because of their demonstrated passion for government and politics and their excellent academic standing at Clark.

The Harrington Fellowship program is supported by the Francis A. Harrington Public Affairs Fund. The Fund was established by a generous gift to Clark from Mr. Harrington, a long-time Worcester civic leader, to provide special programs and activities for students, faculty, and members of the Worcester community to enhance their knowledge and understanding of public affairs. The Fellowship Program was created to encourage and support Clark undergraduates to pursue creative or original research on politics and public policy or service projects. By conducting research or working in the public or nonprofit sector, students learn first-hand about public affairs and civic engagement in public life.