PEOPLE: Groton Native Discovers Jewish Social Justice in Unique Summer Internship Program
This summer, Alia Degen's passion for Judaism, social justice, and advocacy brought her to Washington, DC for the Machon Kaplan program at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Machon Kaplan is a summer study-internship program that engages students on critical social justice issues from both an academic and practical viewpoint.
Program participants, like Degen, intern at a public policy organization, such as The Interfaith Alliance, the NAACP, Citizens for Global Solutions or AFL-CIO, seeing firsthand how groups pursue legislative advocacy, how policy is crafted and how interns can harness their own energy to make social change.
While in Washington D.C., Degen is working with Public Citizens Global Trade Watch whose goal is to promote fair trade agreements across the world. In working with this organization, she helps with pushing a variety of fast track legislation through Congress.
"Machon Kaplan has given me all of the opportunities to explore stances on topics and gives me the resources for me to succeed with this setting," she said.
A Groton native, Degen is a rising sophmore studying global studies with minors in Spanish and community and international development at the University of Vermont. With the experience and knowledge gained from her time at the University of Vermont and with Public Citizens Global Trade Watch, Degen hopes to engage other students on her campus.
To learn more about the Machon Kaplan Summer Social Action Internship program, visit http://rac.org/mk.
