During the Summer of 2019, I will be interning at the National Association of Wheat Growers or NAWG in Washington, D.C. through the Texas A&M University Agricultural and Natural Resources Policy Internship Program.

NAWG stands for the National Association of Wheat Growers, which represents 21 affiliated state associations and many coalition partners. NAWG seeks to work towards the common good of the wheat industry through advocacy, alliances, and innovation on a variety of issues from environmental regulations to commercialization of emerging technologies affecting the wheat industry. Being the primary representative of wheat growers in Washington D.C., NAWG seeks to represent wheat farmers across the United States to protect their interests and the industry they hold dear. NAWG represents the industry through maintaining good relations and contact with state association representatives, NAWG grower leaders, Members of Congress, Congressional staff, and the public from their offices located in the Wheat Growers Building on Capitol Hill.

Not far from the senate offices sits NAWG and here I do a variety of jobs, from answering the phone to working on project assignments given to me from areas all throughout the office. Luckily, my job has not entailed solely answering the phone and getting the office staff coffee, unlike what many people view that interns do. In fact, I have yet to get anyone but myself coffee in the office. I have been tasked with doing a variety of different projects or jobs within the office including research, development, and networking. Currently, I am working on a blog series on our National Wheat Foundation website covering the history of wheat and its future through gene editing. Here, I am outlining research submitted by scientists on how gene editing could be beneficial to the industry and the world. I am working towards providing educational avenues for Members of Congress and the public to understand the science behind innovations in the wheat industry. I also have been keeping up to date on recent government or industry news, which I then relay to our communications department. I have several other projects I am working on during this internship as well as providing tech support, answering the phones, and whatever else NAWG might task me with.

Agriculture has always played a major role in my life. That’s how I found myself at Texas A&M University majoring in Animal Science. Currently, I am not sure what I want to do beyond college other than being involved in agriculture. It is through Agricultural and Natural Resources Policy (ANRP) Internship where I could find out if agriculture policy is something I would want to pursue. My policy interest derives from the years I competed in policy debate in high school. Luckily the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences advertises this internship to its best and brightest making it very competitive and an honor to be a part of. This internship provides an amazing opportunity to network and build connections for your career. Washington D.C. is the largest Texas A&M University former student network outside of Bryan/College Station.