The Washington Internship for Native Students, established under the auspices of American University's Washington Semester Program, was developed in response to the White House Initiative to help American Indian and Alaskan Native students develop knowledge and leadership skills necessary to enhance their potential to contribute to their communities on reservations, and the nation. Having access to a significant pool of American Indian and Alaskan Native students, the program focuses on experiential learning by coupling internships with coursework and ensuring that traditional values and practices of sovereign nations and tribes are intermingled in the program. WINS will continue to collaborate with the National Science Foundation to provide internship placements for American Indian and Alaskan Native students, a group of students sorely under-represented in the STEM workforce. It is anticipated as a result of this effort, the NSF will serve as a conduit to broaden participation of this under-represented group, and diversify the future STEM enterprise, needed to keep the US competitive in a global environment.
