March 23, 2010
For Immediate Release
By Skye Gardner, student news writer
Campbellsville, Ky. — The 2010 session of Kentucky’s General Assembly is providing a political science classroom this semester for three Campbellsville University students.
The students include: Nathan Cox, a Campbellsville University junior from Troy, Ohio; Phillip Mitchell, a Campbellsville University junior from Springfield, and LeAnn Straley, a Campbellsville University sophomore from Campbellsville, Ky.
There are nine students from six of Kentucky’s independent colleges chosen for this year’s Frankfort-based legislative internship program.
From left are: Nathan Cox, Phillip Mitchell and LeAnn Straley.
“I firmly believe that I am a good fit in the internship program’s stimulating environment. I am obviously very honored that I was chosen to be one of those who are representing CU,” Cox said.
“It is an honor to be chosen for something like this,” Mitchell said. “No one in my family has done anything like this before.”
“I think that being able to intern with the Kentucky General Assembly in the House Republican Leadership Office is an amazing experience. I feel that it is an honor to get to have an opportunity like this while still being in college,” Straley said. “I am enjoying every moment of it.”
“This program is an opportunity for students to see how their classroom instruction works in the real world of legislative committee rooms and General Assembly chambers,” said Dr. Gary S. Cox, president of the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities, the agency sponsoring Frankfort-based internships for the 11th consecutive year.
Cox also expressed appreciation for the time legislators commit to helping their interns understand the legislative process and what makes it function.
The AIKCU 2010 Frankfort Semester interns will be the 11th student group to serve in Frankfort and the sixth legislative intern class. In odd-numbered years AIKCU oversees an administrative internship through which students work for state executive branch agencies. In each program the interns work 30 hours weekly and complete two academic seminars focusing on different aspects of state government policy-making. The program is open to applicants who are juniors or seniors in good academic standing on their campuses.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 3,006 students who represent 97 Kentucky counties, 30 states and 37 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2010 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 23rd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South, tied for fifth in “most international students” and fourth in “up-and-coming” schools in baccalaureate colleges in the South. CU has been ranked 17 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America’s Best Christian Colleges® and to G.I. Jobs magazine as a Military Friendly School. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his 11th year as president.