Washington D.C.

Congressional internships teach Mason LIFE students independence, resume skills

Sarah Holland — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:26:47 +0000

Congressional internships teach Mason LIFE students independence, resume skills Sarah Holland Mon, 12/01/2025 - 14:26

�� knows the value of hands-on experience in the workplace for all students. An internship can lead to the experience of a lifetime. And that includes Mason LIFE students who are interning on Capitol Hill.

Established by former Representative Gregg Harper in 2010, the Gregg and Livingston Harper Congressional Internship Program for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities matches Mason LIFE students with House and Senate congressional office internships. Students start their internships in their second year and continue them through completion of the program.

“We’re helping them gain the skills needed to seek a fulfilling career when graduating from the program,” explained Linn Jorgenson, director of Mason LIFE, a four-year nondegree educational transition program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. One of Mason LIFE’s core curriculum requirements that supports this development is the internship.

“We’re helping them learn what they like and don’t like, how to make decisions on their own, and developing their ability to advocate for themselves,” Jorgenson added.

This fall, eight Mason LIFE students interned across 16 different congressional offices on Capitol Hill.

“My favorite part is getting to see what happens behind the scenes of the government,” said Madison Gulley, a third-year Mason LIFE student and one of the congressional interns.

Mason LIFE students and peer support staff in Washington, D.C. Back row: Nehal Gundawar, Ankit Borle, Shane Sorensen, and Nick Ortega. Front row: Amar Malik, Max Gulley, Noah Coon, Shreya Adusumilli, Sofia Puritano, Eli Zhou, Madison Shaw, Leah McDuffie, Vrushali Vijay Patil, and Varsha Ponnaganti. Not pictured: Aryaa Bhole and Riya Stanly.

Every Friday, Mason LIFE students and their peer support staff—George Mason students who travel with the students to their workplaces to provide support and guidance—take the Metro into Washington, D.C., complete their internship assignments for the day for their two congressional offices, eat lunch, and take the Metro back to Fairfax. Students in the program tackle a variety of work for their assigned congressional offices: answering phones, researching bills, delivering mail, giving tours, and doing data entry, to name a few.

“The students working on the Hill are part of a team, completing work that is essential and meaningful to all parties involved,” emphasized Jorgenson.

“When our students come to their internships, our peer support staff are there to facilitate inclusion and support students in successfully completing tasks,” said Melissa Chabot, employment and community involvement coordinator for Mason LIFE. “So not only are these necessary jobs done, you know they’ll be done well.”

Through the internship program, Mason LIFE students learn independence, confidence, and social and cultural competencies; they build valuable resume skills; and they explore their interests to see if they’re the right fit for a long-term career. And for the peer support staff, the benefits are just as important.

Ankit Borle, one of the newer peer support staff, is working toward a master’s in data analytics engineering. “I’ve learned to listen actively, communicate clearly, and tailor support so people can be independent—skills that build trust with teammates, clients, and stakeholders...Most importantly, I’m taking forward an inclusive mindset—making sure every voice is heard—which will make me a stronger colleague and leader wherever I work,” Borle said.

Madison Shaw, a graduate student in the Master of Social Work Program, has worked with Mason LIFE for three years. “It can be so important to focus on abilities versus disabilities. Each student carries so many strengths within themselves and has a lot to offer,” she said.

There’s a similar benefit to the employer. “Mason LIFE students bring an important perspective to the office,” said Chabot. “Employers get an opportunity to reflect on their inclusivity. What are the employers doing that helps everyone be successful, and where can they improve?”

And the joy of watching their fellow students succeed is perhaps the greatest reward of all.

Peer coach Nehal Gundawar, a master’s student in computer science, works with one of the Capitol Hill interns. “In the beginning, they [the Mason LIFE student] were nervous about interacting with staff and unsure how to approach tasks without guidance...after a few weeks they began initiating tasks on their own and even asked for additional responsibilities. Their supervisor complimented their improvements,” he said. “Watching them grow into a more confident and independent employee was incredibly rewarding.”

The congressional interns see the changes in themselves as well.

“Mason LIFE helps me with the skills that are required to be an independent man,” said Amar Mailk, a third-year student.

“Mason LIFE has changed my life,” said Aryaa Bhole, a second-year student. “Because of the lessons and skills, I know to stand out and inspire others and to lift them with my voice.”

Learn more about Mason LIFE

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College of Education and Human Development

Case competitions help students share practical solutions to public health problems

Shayla Brown — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:00:54 +0000

Case competitions help students share practical solutions to public health problems Shayla Brown Wed, 12/06/2023 - 12:00

Six graduate students from ��’s Department of Global and Community Health and Department of Health Administration and Policy presented a four-pronged solution to address health care and homelessness among Washington, D.C., area women at the D.C. Public Health Case Challenge.

“It was a really exciting day,” said associate professor Debora Goldberg, who mentored them. “The students did an unbelievable job.”

The competition, held at the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, is a chance for students to use what they’ve learned in the classroom to address a real-world issue, Goldberg said.

Mason’s team used a divided approach, each taking a task that related to their research backgrounds to come up with a pilot study.

Debora Goldberg and the team of Global and Community Health students in D.C. Photo Provided.

First-year health services research PhD student Sravya Vunnam was a member of the team that competed in the case competition.

“Before the actual competition, we did a dry run with six faculty members from HAP and [School of Nursing] who came and listened to our presentation to give us feedback and help us prepare,” said Vunnam.

“[Most] of us are going to be in public health and policy making somehow, so this experience helps to shape our minds and prepare us for that,” she said.

The team’s approach included housing, community and mental health support, developing an app that would provide resources for unhoused populations to find places that provide mental health support, and access peer navigators, as well as an anti-stigma campaign.

Because students bring skills that they learn in the classroom to these experiences, case competitions are also a great opportunity for students to practice in public health courses, said Goldberg.

Public health graduate student Anahita Asghari-Kamrani took the GCH 465 Community Health capstone course taught by adjunct professor Sara Hoffman, where she and her classmates got to compete in hypothetical competitions that are set up to replicate the real ones held by the public health community.

The class breaks into teams and identifies a public health problem for which they must find solutions. At the end of the semester, the student teams present their solutions to a panel of local public health professionals, similar to the official case competitions.

“The capstone course has helped me find problem areas in public health and [potential] interventions,” said Asghari-Kamrani, who is in the epidemiology program. “I would say that having an opportunity like this helps you get out of your comfort zone and [now] I would be comfortable participating in something like this in a real-life scenario.”

Community health alumna Madison Knapp also took the GCH 465 Community Health capstone.

“It's a great way of learning and being able to come up with ideas, especially since the world is changing each year and there are new scientific measures available every day,” said Knapp, who graduated in 2023 and now does community health work for the American Heart Association.

Knapp hopes to one day compete in real case competitions so that she can make a difference in her field and community, she said.

“We got to present to people from the Virginia Department of Health, and hearing their feedback was truly a great experience,” said Knapp, whose team ended up winning the hypothetical case competition. “I still think it's one of the best moments of my college career. I hope it encourages students to do the best they can in their courses because you never know what could come out of it.”

Want to know more about the case study competition? Read more in our earlier article about the event.

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Debora Goetz Goldberg, PhD, MHA, MBA

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Department of Global and Community Health

Community Health

Department of Health Administration and Policy

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College of Public Health

Washington D.C.

Strategic Direction

Law student’s summer internship combines his love of flight and law

Sarah Holland — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:08:32 +0000

Law student’s summer internship combines his love of flight and law Sarah Holland Wed, 09/20/2023 - 16:08

Aviation law comes with a lot of legs, and Mack Freilich says that suits him just fine.

Photo by Ron Aira/��

The rising second-year Scalia Law School student has a strong affinity for flight, so he sees his preferred future legal field as a further extension of doing what he loves.

Freilich was able to personally experience as much this summer when he interned for the Washington Aviation Law Group, a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C., that specifically focuses on aviation law. Freilich and other clerks gained valuable firsthand experience by taking part in case reviews and other critical aspects of the legal process, including sitting in on meetings with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“It’s been very cool to work on different parts of the law,” Freilich said. “It’s really opened my eyes to see how much aviation law intersects with other parts of the law. There’s so much more behind aviation law.”

That experience will likely prove useful this fall when he takes the aviation law course at Mason and returns to the Washington Aviation Law Group as an extern.

“I plan on taking what I learned this summer and applying it,” he said.

Anybody who knows Freilich would hardly be surprised to hear that aviation would be in his future. After working his way through Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in paralegal studies with a minor in criminal justice in 2022, Freilich became a flight attendant so he could see the world.

After starting at PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary of American Airlines in the Midwest and Eastern United States, Freilich moved up to the parent company. He soon lost his job, however, due to pandemic-related cutbacks. After the job loss, Freilich, who had long been interested in law, figured the time was right to pursue a juris doctor degree.

He tries to make a difference wherever he goes and has applied that drive to achieving diversity and inclusivity at Scalia Law by serving on the law school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council. The hope, Freilich said, is to help foster a more diverse community within the legal community.

“The DEI Council works hard to foster a welcoming and enriching environment for learning,” he said. “Interacting with peers from diverse backgrounds has broadened my perspectives and deepened my understanding of societal issues. This exposure has prepared me to approach legal challenges with a more inclusive mindset and a keen eye to the issues LGBTQIA+ community faces in the legal profession.”

Freilich credited his decision to attend Scalia Law School for the tremendous opportunities to have come his way so far, calling it “an immensely beneficial decision that has enriched both my personal and professional journey in profound ways.”

“The unique combination of academic excellence, practical experiences, and a vibrant community has contributed significantly to my growth and development as a future attorney,” he said.

Learn more about the Scalia Law School

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Congressional internships teach Mason LIFE students independence, resume skills

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