Summer intern Carla Kobashigawa, third from left, is a die-hard Washington State University Cougars football fan when she's not working hard for Neil.
Summer intership ends, football season begins...soon
Neil’s offices in Washington, D.C. and Honolulu have always opened doors of opportunity for the many students who’ve sought internships and fellowships to further their education and knowledge in areas of study such as government, political science, and public policy.
One of those students is Kamehameha Schools graduate Carla Kobashigawa of Ewa Beach who just finished a summer internship with Neil’s Honolulu office and will be heading back to Washington State University. She will be hitting the books again and working toward graduation in 2010 from WSU where she is studying political science and philosophy with the hope of attending law school and eventually focusing on children’s rights.
Carla was given a heavy load of tasks and responsibilities in the Honolulu office, handling everything from phone calls to writing assignments and helping to organize Neil’s highly successful “Green Jobs” workshop and a training session for executive directors of local nonprofit organizations. Both events, in part, were designed to help the community to take advantage of federal economic recovery funding.
“I have learned about the cooperation between all levels of government and met people from multiple government agencies,” says Carla. “My summer as an intern has helped me to better understand my coursework in school and provided me with new perspectives on public policy. These experiences have helped to affirm my desire to study family law to work with children.”
However, one of Carla’s biggest tests in the upcoming school year will not be in a classroom; it’ll be on September 12 at Qwest Field in Seattle where her WSU Cougars battle the University of Hawaii Warriors in an NCAA gridiron matchup. So, will she root for her home state Warriors or WSU Cougars? Says Carla while raising a clenched fist: “Cougs, of course! But I did root for (former UH quarterback) Colt Brennan for the Heisman Trophy!”
With that touch of diplomacy, she proves how much she learned about the American political system!
