Hello! My name is Colleen O’Hare-Barrows, and I am participating in this year’s International Internship Program in Dublin. I am a rising junior majoring in Politics & Philosophy. I am also pursuing certificates in Sustainability and Public & Professional Writing.  After college, I hope to attend law school.

Going abroad has always been something I’ve hoped to do in college, and I’m very grateful it’s becoming a reality. When I learned about Pitt’s IIP, I knew it was a great fit. This program will help me graduate early, satisfy my major’s capstone requirement, and fulfill credits for my Honors College degree. However, when signing up for the Dublin IIP, I knew it would mean more than just what’s on paper; I’m looking forward to a lot of growth as a professional and an individual.

The internship I am working on will be with a Dublin councilwoman. Through this program, I am hoping to learn how public policy is developed and enacted on a local level in another country, and eventually understand the similarities and differences of that same process compared to the United States. I am also looking forward to learning how the campaign process in particular compares. In high school, I volunteered with a local woman’s campaign for Congress in my congressional district. I’m from Bergen County, New Jersey, which is the most populated county in the most densely populated state in the country; Bergen County alone has a higher population that Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and both Dakotas (not combined, not yet!). With a population that big, it was sometimes hard for our campaign to connect with voters on a personal level. I’m looking forward to working with a more local campaign, and seeing how that process is different from the one I experienced in Bergen. As someone looking to eventually work in the political sphere, this knowledge is crucial.

I chose to do the IIP in Dublin because I have family near the area, and I am hoping to use this as an opportunity to reconnect with them after many years apart. My maternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland; my grandmother and grandfather were from Donegal and Newry, respectively. They both passed away shortly after I was born, so there’s a lot I never got to know about them. I believe that seeing where they each were from will fill a gap in that knowledge. The Dublin IIP is a unique program in that it allows me to spend a significant amount of time in Ireland, gaining college credits, while not taking actual classes; the nature of this coursework (the internship) will give me ample time to reconnect with my family. This was a significant factor in my decision to come onto this program.

I am looking forward to beginning my internship next week, and am very grateful to be part of Pitt’s IIP. I would like to thank and acknowledge the Frederick Honors College for their generous scholarship that helped me participate in this program.