Three DCU students head for the US - Washington Ireland Programme
8 June 2009

Three DCU students, Tom McMahon, Caroline Winston and Emma Cassidy have been selected for the Washington International Programme (WIP) 2009 and have just headed out to the US for their six-month internship.  The WIP programme is a six-month personal and professional development programm for students from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  At the end of their internship, students return home to become involved in initiatives that will bring together communities in a post-conflict Ireland.

Tom is a fourth year International Business and Languages majoring in Finance. He has just completed a year abroad in Madrid and will be doing an internship in the heart of downtown Washington DC this summer in the IFC World Bank. “During my stay in Washington DC, I hope to learn more about the activities of the World Bank, particularly in the current economic climate.  I am also keen to see the changes taking place under the new Obama administration.  To work in the epicenter of all political and professional life at this time is a mouth-watering prospect and it will be supremely interesting to see how day-to-day business is conducted”, Tom said.

Caroline Winston is a final year Journalism student from Ballymun, Dublin, who hopes to study for an MA in International Organisations in DCU in the coming academic year. She will be interning in Washington DC with Susan Davis International, one of the nation's premier communications and public affairs firms which has developed media and government relations campaigns for the U.S. and foreign governments, federal agencies, multinationals, cultural institutions and national landmarks, the entertainment industry, the sports world, non-profits, NGOs, and trade associations. “I will be assisting writing press releases, captions, newsletters, ads and public service announcements. I will also be working with the new media team on online strategies and assisting with special events and PR campaigns, and much more.  I hope to enhance my skills in a professional working environment and gain practical experience. I look forward to the new experiences and people that I will meet over the next two months. I am very excited”, she said.

Emma Cassidy, is from Letterkenny, Co. Donegal and has just completed the second year

of her Economics, Politics and Law course. Because of her particular interest law she will be spending six months in the Montogomery County State Attorneys Office.

More than 350 young adults from Ireland have graduated from WIP, representing twenty-five different universities throughout the UK and Ireland.  Many graduates are now emerging in important careers in politics, law, business, communications, education and community organisations.