Interview by Sarah Gendron
Briann Bardsley is a junior IST major and Political Science minor from Kansas City. She is a part of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC) and plans to either join the Peace Corps or work in DC in Religious Freedom.
The Baylor in Washington Semester Program provides students with a unique experiential learning and professional development opportunity. Through internship service, academic rigor, and thoughtful research, Semester Program students will enjoy and profit from this unique opportunity to experience Washington, D.C. in community with other Baylor students.
How would you describe the Semester in Washington Program?
The Baylor in Washington program has been a life-changing experience, and it is only a little over halfway done. We have been given the opportunity to come to one of the most fascinating, enthralling, and diverse cities in the world to discuss modern day issues through class, engage those issues through our respective internships, and then debate and converse about those issues with our cohort. The program directors have done an exceptional job of providing us with a plethora of events and opportunities to interact with people from all over the DC area who work in every field you could possibly be interested in, helping to expose us to a vast amount of professions along with creating a network for once you graduate. As an International Studies major, I feel like this semester has helped give me a much more in-depth look at how the United States government and organizations in the DC area interact and work with the rest of the world, to not only achieve our goals but help other countries achieve theirs as well.
What is your internship?
This semester I have been working at Religious Freedom Institute, a non-profit that focuses on research, policy proposal, and education around the world to help secure religious freedom for all. 
Not only has the work I’ve been able to do fascinating and rewarding, but it’s incredible being a part of an organization that simply exists to help serve people around the globe and protect the intrinsic rights that their governments steal and attack on a daily basis. I have learned an incredible amount of information about the world of religious freedom, the way different organizations tackle this issue, the ways in which the United States can best help protect the persecuted, and why religious freedom is such a vital right to protect for all people around the world. Through my internship I have been given numerous tasks ranging from creating talking points for a book launch covering the persecution and murder of the 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt to sitting in on meetings of persecuted religious groups from around the world seeking to make their story heard to going to meetings on the Hill as our organization seeks to shed light on an under-represented issue facing our society, and the world at large, today.
What is it like living in DC?
Living in DC has been an incredible experience each and every day. On my way to work each morning, I walk past the Supreme Court, the United States Capitol, and the Library of Congress – places you surprisingly don’t see on your way to class each morning on campus. The sights, people, history, culture, food, and energy of DC is such a wonderful experience to be a small part of. When the semester first started I didn’t know how I would feel about living in such a big city that seems like it is always on high alert, but it is an intoxicating environment that draws you further and further in the longer you are here.
What has been your favorite experience so far?
I think my favorite experience so far was a stop we made during our night tour of the Supreme Court. A Baylor alum, and now clerk for Justice Alito, gave us a tour that ranged from covering the history of the building and the Court to touring the inter-building law library to seeing the Justice’s chambers. However, the best moment of the entire evening was being able to go into the Courtroom itself. Law school is something I have been interested in since the fifth grade and to stand where history has been made, sit in the seat reserved for the President when he attends Court, and see from the perspective of the Justices as they make landmark decisions left me in awe and wonder of just how truly beautiful democracy can be. A few weeks later I was able to return for oral arguments at the Supreme Court and seeing the Justices in the same place I had just been a short while ago is a memory and feeling I will never forget.
Is it difficult to balance school with your internship?
I think work/school/life balance has definitely been one of the more challenging parts of the semester. After having worked for an entire day, it is difficult to come home and realize you still have a few hours of reading to do or a section of your research paper that you need to finish and then find the will power to get those tasks done. However, something I have realized lately is that this lifestyle is much more indicative of what the future for most of us will look like, to a certain degree.
Would you recommend this program for other IST majors?
I would recommend this program to anyone. The life skills, experiences, growing, and character building that happens while you are in DC is astonishing. Your world view, political beliefs, and even personal ideas are challenged on a daily basis and you are compelled to solidify who you want to be as a person. The DC program forces you to look outside of yourself, to hear what those around you are saying, and incorporate those ideas and urgings into your work, and those are practices that I believe are being lost in society today. I would strongly encourage any international studies major to look into this program – it is an opportunity to see the deepest heartfelt desires of people from around the world as they come together, despite differences in beliefs or ideas, to truly make their fellow man heard and seen. You will leave this city transformed.
