An internship with The Heritage Foundation can be a successful stepping stone into your future career. Many former interns have gone on to make a name for themselves, including a well-known talk show host and two U.S. congressmen.

Just this past year, Forbes’s 30 under 30 list recognized two former Heritage interns for their achievements in public policy. Heather Pfitzenmaier, the director of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program, was recognized twice last year for her leadership in guiding the next generation of young conservatives for the past five years at Heritage. Another past Heritage intern on the list was Maya Noronha, deputy director of the Republican National Lawyers Association and the first Asian-American president of the Philodemic Society. As an intern, she worked in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

During your time as a Heritage intern, you will see conservatism in practice, for you will be in the center of the action. You have the chance to pursue your own interests through our diverse departments. Interns do research on domestic and foreign policy, write for the communications department, and work in graphic design, accounting, IT, and event planning. These are just a few examples of what you could be doing in a summer internship at The Heritage Foundation.

If you are a college junior or recent college graduate who wants to make a difference in creating and promoting conservative public policy, you should apply for a once in a lifetime internship. With prominent speakers, lectures and seminars, and experiences in our nation’s capital, the Young Leaders Program is more than just a working experience—it is a learning experience in what it truly means to be a conservative in the modern world.

The Young Leaders Program’s motto is “Building for the next generation.” There is no denying that if you intern at The Heritage Foundation, you will use what you learned during your 10 weeks here and come out a stronger conservative with the right tools to truly build for the next conservative generation. And you’ll join good company—including talk show host Laura Ingraham, a former Heritage intern, and these two new congressmen:

  • Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) was a Heritage intern in 1996 while an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. He worked for Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding before moving to the Hill to work for then-Rep. Jim Talent.
  • Representative Tom Cotton (R-AR) interned at Townhall.com, which was then a Heritage project, in 1997 while an undergraduate at Harvard. Inspired by Heritage, he spent a year at the Claremont Graduate School, before going to law school and joining the military after 9/11.

Apply now for the summer internship! Deadline: February 1

Summer 2013 Intern Program schedule: June 3—August 9

Alyssa Badolato is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm.