After graduating from The College of Idaho in 2022 with a degree in international political economy, Kaelynn Crawford loaded up her 2010 Honda Civic and began a journey.
“I’m like any other 23-year-old who drove across the country to start over,” she laughed.
But Crawford, who grew up on a farm near Marsing, Idaho, wasn’t driving to see the bright lights of Manhattan or take a summer job at Walt Disney World in Florida. The journey, in the span of about a year, has included two political internships in Washington, D.C., with the Victory Institute, the second of which wrapped up in May after working in the White House.
“To say it was amazing would be an understatement,” Crawford admitted. “You walk down the hallway and you might be passed by the vice president.”
Her trip to the White House began with her first internship when she worked with Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. After it concluded, she headed to North Bay Village, Florida, and began working for the city before receiving a call back to the nation’s capital from the Victory Institute, this time to work in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House.
“This was everything from tracking legislative priorities to drafting briefing memos for senior officials,” she explained. “Essentially being the eyes and ears on governors for senior White House officials.”
It helped demonstrate the intricacies of American government for Crawford.
“You think there is one big central government, but there’s the local – city, state, municipal, tribal governments,” she said. “Being able to see how the White House holds all of that together at the federal level was quite interesting.”
Not just interesting but, for Crawford, perhaps career-altering. She originally learned about the Victory Institute internship opportunity while at the College from Dr. Rob Dayley and, while intrigued, wasn’t too sure about it at first.
“I told Dr. Dayley I don’t want to work in American politics, I want to work in international stuff,” she said. “He laughed and said okay, and I see now why he laughed.”
It’s because she’s hooked. Her experiences with the Victory Institute, Senator Baldwin, and the White House have changed her mindset – from international politics to perhaps one day returning to Idaho to help lead her home state. And it started with a tip from her professor at the College.
“If you truly want something, reach out and grab it,” Crawford said. “When it feels scary to jump, I think that’s exactly when you should do it. That’s something the College taught me.”
Not in a reckless, unprepared way, she explained. Which is also part of her College of Idaho experience.
“I’m a liberal arts advocate, that’s a hill I will die on. It taught me how to think and not what to think,” she continued. “Having this well-rounded education, having that well-established liberal arts education made me a well-rounded person.”
Crawford recently met up with rising senior Melanie Dawson, who is in Washington D.C. this summer to also do an internship with the Victory Institute. Dawson will be working with the House Democratic Caucus, chaired by Pete Aguilar of California. The Institute’s Congressional internship program invites fewer than 20 students per term with Crawford and Dawson representing The College of Idaho in the past two years. Among Dawson’s internship classmates are students from Baylor University, Texas A&M, Boston University, University of Pennsylvania, and Virginia Tech. Crawford says she hears some good-natured jokes about Idaho in Washington, D.C., but it doesn’t change the fact that people like her and Dawson are in the same programs, doing the same things, as their colleagues from more well-known institutions.
“It goes to show that The College of Idaho is more than a dot on a map,” Crawford said.
The College of Idaho has a 132-year-old legacy of excellence. The College is known for its outstanding academic programs, winning athletics tradition, and history of producing successful graduates, including eight Rhodes Scholars, three governors, and countless business leaders and innovators. Its distinctive PEAK Curriculum challenges students to attain competency in the four knowledge peaks of humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and a professional field—empowering them to earn a major and three minors in four years. The College’s close-knit, residential campus is located in Caldwell, where its proximity both to Boise and to the world-class outdoor activities of southwest Idaho’s mountains and rivers offers unique opportunities for learning beyond the classroom. For more information, visit www.collegeofidaho.edu.