If not for President Barack Obama’s speech on campus last fall, University of Wisconsin alumna Adelaide Davis said she might not have applied for the White House internship program.

Now, Davis is an intern in the White House Fellowships office. 

“I woke up at the crack of dawn in order to be in the front row at the rally,” Davis said in an email to The Badger Herald. “Following his speech, while the President shook hands with volunteers, I was able to share a brief few words with him. He said to me, ‘We need more young people like you in Washington.’ That night I went home and looked up the application for the White House Internship Program.”

Fellow UW graduate and intern Dana Mayber said she knew she wanted to be a part of the “inspiring” Obama administration.

In the Office of Presidential Personnel, Mayber assists with the selection process for presidential appointments, which include department secretaries, federal judges and more.

Mayber added she was able to be in the Rose Garden for the recent appointment of Jeh Johnson as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 19.

“It was such a wonderful experience to be able to hear the president speak,” Mayber said in an email to The Badger Herald. “Not to mention the speech was outside on a beautiful day in the White House Rose Garden, where so many noteworthy speeches have been made.”

She said every Friday in the office interns get the chance to meet with staff from all the White House offices through “brown bag” lunch events and hear from senior staff members at “Speaker Series” events.

Davis said she witnessed a press briefing with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and called his interactions with reporters “fascinating.”

In addition to the briefing, seeing one of her “inspirations” speaking to staff members in her office is a memory she will always remember, Davis added.

“I grew up watching the PBS NewsHour with my mom, and [PBS Correspondent Gwen] Ifill was one of the original individuals to inspire me to pursue a career in public service,” she said. “The opportunity to hear her passion about journalism and politics and its capacity to improve the lives of citizens is a memory I will always cherish.”

Both Davis and Mayber said the application process, which involved several essays and policy memorandums, was challenging but well worth the experience.

Learning about public policy through hands-on experiences rather than in a classroom has proved most beneficial to her career plans, which include working for a think tank and degrees in law and public health, Davis said.

For Mayber, working with the White House staff has helped inform her career path. She hopes to work for a government agency nonprofit that advocates for children in the future.

“From my colleagues and peers in the internship program, I am learning how to transform my passion for public service into a career where I can positively impact lasting and substantial change,” Mayber said.

White House Press Office policy does not permit phone interviews with interns.