By Donna Hemmila

When Angela Wagner arrived at the UC Center Sacramento in spring 2005, a career in public policy wasn't on her to-do list. An internship in the capital office of then-Sen. Liz Figueroa and the center's rigorous academic program changed her career direction.

Always a straight-A, serious student, Wagner said the Scholar Intern Program increased the intensity of her commitment. "That's when I found my spark," she said.

Today she's a legislative advocate with Political Solutions, juggling nine health-related clients for the Sacramento lobbying firm, including the March of Dimes and the California Nurse Midwives Association.

"I thought I would go into business and work for a corporation," Wagner said. "Politics never entered my mind until I was exposed to the center."

Wagner is one of 328 UC students who have had internships through the 5-year-old center. The program has placed students in more than 160 legislative offices, nonprofits and government agencies. The Sacramento center is patterned after the UC Washington Center, which provides similar internships in the nation's capital to more than 800 UC students annually.

Both programs have the same goals: to introduce students to the world of politics and public service and to train them for future leadership roles.

Valuable connections. In addition to attending classes, lectures and seminars, the interns work 30 to 40 hours a week. They earn credit for a full quarter or semester, depending on the academic schedule of their home campus.

"They teach you a lot of real-world skills like networking and making business connections, learning from other students and how they can be a resource," said Wagner of her Sacramento experience.

Career stepping stone. After graduating from UC Davis, Wagner made use of a valuable skill she had learned at the UC Center – the art of the informational interview – to find out about lobbying. That interview with Political Solutions led to a job.

"It's been beyond my wildest dreams," she said. "It's definitely not your typical desk job."

Leaders in training. About 10 percent of the students who complete the internship program end up landing jobs in Sacramento after graduation.

"We're doing our part in building up the next generation of leadership for the state," said center Director Gary Dymski. "In the Sacramento community many of the players are Kennedy generation folks. They're in their 50s and 60s and contemplating retirement. Those people need to be replaced. We're part of creating a transition in bringing these young, talented people in."

California's future. Nina Kapoor spent her 2005 internship with the California Assembly Committee on Public Safety. After graduating from UC San Diego with an economics degree, she worked at the UC Center Sacramento before winning a Senate Fellowship with Sen. Joseph Simitian.

"Sacramento is such an insider game," she said. "When you're part of it, you feel like you're part of something special. You're getting to be a part of the future of California."

Alumni support. At the UC Washington Center, 10 percent to 15 percent of the student interns land jobs in Washington. Ten years after his first internship in the nation's capital, David Bortnick keeps going back.

A legislative analyst in the White House Office of Management and Budget, Bortnick returns to the center every year to offer career advice and mentoring to the student interns. Many arrive motivated and eager to make a mark but not exactly sure of how and where to do that.

In 1997, Bortnick, a political science major from UC Santa Barbara, arrived in Washington facing the same challenge. The center program gave him the opportunity to figure out how he could best participate in public affairs, he said.

Washington tryouts. At the UC Washington Center, internships include not just public policy experiences but also work in museums and cultural institutions. In 2006, the center inaugurated a summer science program to create more learning opportunities for science and technology majors.

"Many students regard this as the highlight of their undergrad experience," said center Director Bruce Cain. "They have a chance to try on careers and the Washington scene."

UC faculty members conduct classes, and several university research programs call the center home including the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

"Washington couldn't function without interns," Cain said. "The nonprofits really couldn't function. Our interns are among the most prized because they're good students."

When Bortnick attended the program, he interned for U.S. Rep. Walter Capps, the now-deceased congressman from Santa Barbara, and in the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, editing and translating documents for the Cold War International History Project.

After more government internships, and a master's degree in public policy from UCLA, Bortnick returned to Washington where he has held various staff and analyst positions. In 2003 he joined the budget office.

The center, Bortnick said, is one of the best things UC has to offer.

"You're taking students to a level you just can't achieve in a classroom," he said. "You can bring a petri dish to a science class, but you can't bring Congress to a political science class. There's nothing like being here for a semester."

Donna Hemmila is the editor of Our University.