Hello! My name is Julianna Pasquarello and I am a rising Junior from Long Island, New York, double-majoring in Economics and Political Science at Tulane. This summer, I will be interning at The Cato Institute, a policy-oriented think tank dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.
This summer, I will be interning in the Media Relations Department at Cato. As a member of the Media Relations Department, I will attend daily media department meetings, prepare daily summaries of Cato citations and media appearances and track newsworthy topics for “Cato Scholars” to comment on. In addition, as an intern, I will staff Cato events and will also attend several series of research seminars and career development workshops provided by their undergraduate internship program.
I am very excited to be working in The Media Relations Department because I not only will get to combine my previous internship experience and passion for media, public relations, and public policy, but I will gain valuable experience working for a nonpartisan research organization.
My five learning objectives I hope to experience from my time at Cato are as follows:
- To gain professional skills experience including public speaking and opt-editorial writing.
- To improve my communications skills by participating in Cato Seminars and engaging with the Cato Scholars who I will be assigned to.
- To acquire a deeper understanding of feminist philosophy through a libertarian framework.
- To gain experience in research topics such as history, philosophy, policy and professional development through Cato’s Internship Seminar Program.
- The build skills in scholarly research, including data organization and argumentative writing.
I am currently preparing for my internship by staying up to date on current events and by trying to understand and interpret different public policies through a libertarian framework. There are multiple aspects of my experience at Cato that motivate me for my internship. Firstly, coming from a school with individuals who generally share the same political beliefs, I am excited to gain a new perspective by working for a libertarian organization. Secondly, I am excited to develop a broader understanding of the intersection between public policy, media and public relations. Thirdly, within Cato, there are over twenty different departments which each have their own interns assigned to them based on their interests. I cannot wait to meet all my fellow interns from universities across the country and learn about their passions!
The mission of the Cato Institute is to originate, disseminate, and increase understanding of public policies based on the principles of individual liberty and peace to empower individuals to create a more cosmopolitan, inclusive society. The Cato Institute shares a similar vision to NCI’s: to afford individuals and women the strength and resilience to accomplish whatever they are passionate about in life. I hope that, as a media-relations intern, I can assist Cato Scholars to continue to advise the public on their research in order to pursue their potential as envisioned by both The Cato Institute and, similarly, The NCI. I am excited to learn more about myself and how I can be a better leader in order to serve both Cato and Newcomb’s respective missions.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my expectations for my upcoming summer internship experience and I cannot wait to update you about Cato along the way over the next few months!