Kensington Wieland didn’t put a lot of thought into diving into the world of national politics until a guest speaker at Lee University, where she attends college, opened her eyes to the possibility.
The speaker, a Lee alumnus, talked about working in government in Washington, D.C., and encouraged those in the audience to apply for an internship.
So Wieland, who grew up in Tellico Village, decided to take a chance, turned in an application and landed in the office of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“I’m a public relations and communications major, so I have really been kind of interested in everything in terms of what area I wanted to go into to work,” Wieland said. “I had never really thought about government, but hearing her talk about the work she had done in government communications really kind of opened my eyes to that arena.”
Wieland helped plan three events with Vice President Mike Pence’s Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America, which was held June 15-16 in Miami.
“I really got to kind of witness firsthand what goes into planning and communicating for a major event,” Wieland said.
The work included handling credentials for more than 300 international news outlets, setting up nearly 200 interviews with international media representatives and registering some 500 delegates. The sheer amount of time and effort involved was illuminating.
“I mean the event is only 48 hours in total at the max and we’re working on them 2-3 months,” she said. “… The build out, the planning of the build, working with vendors, getting materials down there and then actually building all of the production of everything, and then the policy side, which is making sure when you’re dealing with a government event — everything has a policy. There’s all these minute details that goes into it.”
Another element of the internship that stood out for Wieland was that everyone she interacted with had passion for what they do.
She learned from staffers and policy-makers alike. All were more than willing to take time to teach the intern.
“Everyone was so passionate about their work,” Wieland said. “Everyone was so encouraging and took time out of their day to talk about what they did and offer wisdom and advice. Everybody that is working there is really passionate about public service. That’s something I didn’t know before I went up there. They really care about the work their doing, and the work they’re doing is really impacting so many people.”
Cindy Wieland, Kensington’s mother, was proud that her daughter took on the challenge of the Washington internship.
“She was a perfect fit for the situation,” Cindy said. “She went forward and did the best she could and I think she even surprised herself in a lot of ways.”
Cindy described her daughter as serious, worldly and independent, which made the summer-long internship something in which she could thrive.
“Obviously, she’s very dedicated to what her goal is and as an intern what she had to do to be successful and check off all the boxes,” Cindy said. “... She did an outstanding job.”
When not working on major projects, intern organizers scheduled tours of the nation’s capital, scheduled speakers to talk to the interns and allowed those working for the summer a chance to network.
“I think what’s unique about the state department internship program as a whole is you can really come from any type of background and learn something from it,” Kensington said. “Even though my background was public relations and communications, I was with a group of interns that backgrounds ranged. … There were just so many people across the board. I think anybody can have access to an internship in the federal government no matter what their background is.”
Kensington is now interning at Volkswagen during her fall semester, while finishing her senior year at Lee where she attends on a golf scholarship.
