This summer, Patrick Henry College students have spread throughout the country for a variety of interesting, meaningful, and important internships. One such PHC student is Catherine Hickam, who has been interning this summer with the Virginia Family Foundation.
The VA Family Foundation is a small, non-profit, faith-based organization that advocates for policies based on Biblical principles that enable families to flourish at the state and local level. Some of their organizations’ key issues they target include Human Life, Marriage, Gender, Parents, the Right of Conscience, the Role and Jurisdiction of Government and Human Exploitation.
Hickam discovered this internship with the VA Family Foundation through an online search and put in her application. She is a Government major who will be a senior in the fall (Class of 2024).
This summer, during her work as an intern, Hickam has had the opportunity of working on numerous policy issues, specifically those aimed at Virginia public schools. She has been on the team working to stop the adoption of new Family Life Education (FLE) programs into Virginia’s public school system. These new FLE programs are funded by Planned Parenthood and cover topics like sexuality, sexual assault, and dating violence for students in K-12 schools.
Hickam has also been able to work with VA Family Foundation on other critical issues like combating human trafficking in the public school system. Along with another policy intern, Hickam is in charge of updating the VA Family Foundation’s voter guides for the next Virginia state election cycle.
Overall, Hickam has found her internship with the VA Family Foundation to be an incredibly rewarding experience. She says, “It's been a great place to be and I would highly recommend it to any interested PHC students!” The VA Family Foundation accepts applications for summer interns every year for students who want to gain hands-on experience in grassroots outreach, policy and ministry.
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All of Patrick Henry College's academic programs require between 8 and 23 credits of apprenticeships. PHC's location 50 miles from Washington, D.C., and PHC's reputation for the highest quality interns opens doors for our students to participate in some of the nation's most desired undergraduate internships. Follow along with this Internship Spotlight series to see where PHC students are interning this summer!
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Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.
